CareFlight

🎉 Achieving More Together: A Year of Innovation, Impact, and Community Service 🚁 At CareFlight, collaboration is essential to ensuring we’re always ready to respond to emergencies across the Northern Territory. Each year, we conduct several multi-agency training sessions with NT Police Search and Rescue and Surf Life Saving NT. The comprehensive training sessions, build on techniques, essential for effective and safe transfer of personnel and equipment, across land and water in remote, hard-to-access areas. These joint exercises include deploying life rafts, recovering people from the water, and transferring medical teams and equipment to small vessels. Training together enhances the skills and coordination needed for real-life search and rescue missions, where swift, seamless responses can save lives. “We operate in a challenging environment, where vast distances compound the problems of people in distress,” said Grant Pitman, Senior Base Aviator at CareFlight Top End. “These exercises are part of our preparedness and enable us to maintain readiness to respond across the Top End”. In 2023/24 alone, CareFlight supported over 14 SAR missions, from assisting ill passengers aboard cruise ships to responding to boating emergencies. With ongoing collaboration and training, we remain committed to keeping our community safe. Surf Life Saving Northern Territory

Achieving More Together: A Year of Impact, Innovation, and Care In 2024, CareFlight has remained committed to the health and wellbeing of the communities we serve. We’ve delivered over 7,000kg of fresh fruit to remote communities across the Top End, helping ensure access to essential nutrients where it’s needed most. This initiative is just one part of our ongoing mission to support healthier, stronger communities. Beyond providing lifesaving medical care, we’re proud to deliver essential resources that can help improve health outcomes in these remote areas. Every day, we fly into several remote communities to treat and transport critically ill and injured patients, and we’re always looking for new ways to make a difference in the lives of those we serve. A heartfelt thank you to the Woolworths team for their invaluable support in making this possible. Woolworths Supermarkets

Did you know CareFlight provides medical escorts on scheduled commercial long-haul flights? Recently, members of the CareFlight clinical team travelled to China and Cambodia to bring patients back to Australia followed by a trip from New Zealand to Japan.   These transfers were coordinated as part of CareFlight’s Medical Escort service where highly experienced professionals accompany patients and their relatives to their home or destination hospital on scheduled commercial long-haul flights when clinically appropriate.    All CareFlight’s clinicians are Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (APHRA) registered Medical Practitioners or Nurses and all missions have clinical oversight from a CareFlight Specialist Doctor, ensuring all aspects of planning take the patient’s care needs into consideration so patients are in very safe hands. Our clinical teams are available throughout the year and this service remains available in the lead up to and over the Christmas break.   To learn more, visit https://lnkd.in/gS6a5V72. And, if you’re travelling this festive season, remember to book travel insurance – this will help ensure that you or your loved ones can make it home safe if the worst were to happen while you’re away. 

Earlier today, the NCCTRC deployed a six-person AUSMAT team to #Vanuatu on behalf of the Australian Government in response to the 7.2 magnitude earthquake, which struck yesterday at 12:45pm. The team was deployed on the CareFlight jet funded by the Australian Government. The team will assist the Vanuatu Ministry of Health by assessing health emergency response needs and are expected to remain in-country for up to seven days.

Earlier today, the NCCTRC deployed a six-person AUSMAT team to #Vanuatu on behalf of the Australian Government in response to the 7.2 magnitude earthquake, which struck yesterday at 12:45pm. The team was deployed on the CareFlight jet funded by the Australian Government. The team will assist the Vanuatu Ministry of Health by assessing health emergency response needs and are expected to remain in-country for up to seven days.

Celebrating Captain John Hoad’s retirement. Over the course of his 37 year career, John has played a fundamental part in saving and improving many Australian lives. John has flown thousands of missions, including responding directly to rapid response medical trauma emergencies and critical patient transfers.   With a pre-aviation career in healthcare, John is renowned for his dedication to integrating aviation and medicine into a single operation – a belief that CareFlight holds strong today.   In October, 2024, a ceremony was held at CareFlight’s Westmead base to name the Mounties Care CareFlight Helicopter, “Captain John Hoad”, honouring his contributions as both a founding member of CareFlight and the ensuing continuous decades of service as a pilot.  With fellow founders, his wife and CareFlight colleagues present, it was only fitting that the The Mounties Care CareFlight Helicopter, bearing its new moniker “Capt John Hoad” was tasked on a lifesaving mission.  Meanwhile, CareFlight Chairperson the Hon. Brad Hazzard presented John with a commemorative plaque. As the helicopter returned, John unveiled his name on the front of the helicopter. The CareFlight team remains incredibly grateful to John for his astounding 37 years of service to the community and are proud his namesake will prove yet another means through which his legacy of providing a lifesaving aeromedical service will continue. Mounties Group #emergencyservices #aeromedicine #rescue #aviation

A Lifesaving Journey: CareFlight's Critical Role in Saving an Expectant Mother Battling Cancer    CareFlight is sharing the powerful story of Kate, a mother who faced a life-threatening cancer diagnosis while pregnant.   At 22 weeks pregnant, Kate received a devastating diagnosis of bilateral breast cancer for the second time. Following initial surgery and chemotherapy, at 33 weeks pregnant, Kate began experiencing severe neck pain. Further tests revealed the cancer had progressed to stage 4 metastatic breast cancer and had spread to her neck, causing a fracture in her C5 vertebra. Kate was urgently referred to Brisbane’s Women and Children’s Hospital for specialised treatment. Tasked by NT Health, CareFlight was called to provide a critical transfer. Reflecting on the moment she learned she needed to be transported, Kate shared, “It was a very scary and overwhelming time. To learn I now had terminal cancer, needing surgery on my neck and that they could possibly be delivering my baby at 34 weeks was a lot to process. I knew I needed to make this flight to save the life of me and my baby, but it was all very daunting.”    From the moment the CareFlight crew entered the room, Kate felt at ease. “They knew this was a traumatic time, and I felt completely safe. They were not only caring for me but also supporting my husband, ensuring we were both informed and comfortable.” One unforgettable moment was when the CareFlight nurse on board, Nadine, performed an inflight ultrasound to check on Kate’s baby. “It was amazing to see my baby healthy and happy, especially at 30,000 feet,” she recalled. Three days after returning home, Kate delivered a healthy baby girl at 35 weeks. “Amazingly, even throughout two surgeries, chemo and two flights, she was perfectly healthy. She needed no NICU [neonatal intensive care unit] time and was able to come home with us a few days later,” Nadine said.“Now, at 18 months old, her daughter continues to thrive”.    Expressing her gratitude, Kate said, “I could not be more grateful to the CareFlight team. When we were in one of our darkest and most overwhelming times of uncertainty, they were a ray of light for us. We knew we were safe in their hands and their care and compassion were impeccable. Nadine went above and beyond for us and for that, we will be forever thankful.”     Nadine said: “Being able to care and support Kate and her husband both to and from Brisbane provided a rare opportunity to follow up on my patient's journey and to know the outcome of her treatment. It was a privilege to play this small role in Kate's journey and I wish her and her family all the best as they continue their fight against cancer.”    CareFlight’s General Manager Jodie Mills-Mitchell added: “This mission exemplifies the critical role CareFlight plays in providing lifesaving care to Territorians, especially during moments of extreme urgency. We're honoured to have supported Kate and her baby through this challenging time.” 

CareFlight Responds to Burns Incident in Woy Woy On Tuesday, 3 December, shortly after 9:30 am, the Mounties Care CareFlight Helicopter was tasked by NSW Ambulance to respond to a burns incident at a school in Woy Woy, where three students were injured. CareFlight’s specialist doctor and NSW Ambulance paramedics provided critical care at the scene before transferring the patients to hospital. A teenage male was airlifted to Royal North Shore Hospital in a stable condition, with multiple burns. The other two students were taken to Gosford Hospital and Westmead Children's Hospital, both in stable condition. Mounties Group

CareFlight would like to thank our newest gold level Business Supporters for being part of Club CareFlight! We are incredibly grateful for the support of Pickles Auctions, Northern Trade Solutions (NT) Pty Ltd, Sitzler Pty Ltd NT, The Bottle-O Arndell Park and Liam Investments Pty Ltd Now is your LAST CHANCE to have your business logo on a CareFlight aircraft for 2025. Become a Club CareFlight member before 27 November to enter the draw! To join the Club CareFlight program and become a Business Supporter of CareFlight, visit https://lnkd.in/dAvpfjXG

Mounties Care makes lifesaving ten-million-dollar commitment to CareFlight The CareFlight team was delighted to participate in a momentous announcement at Barangaroo, Sydney today: a five-year sponsorship and ongoing donations commitment extending a relationship with Mounties Care, naming rights partner of the NSW-based Rapid Response Helicopter. The $10 million commitment from the profit-for-purpose organisation is made possible thanks to Mounties Group’s 250,000+ members, and brings the organisation’s commitment to a total of $18.7 million. At the centre of the five-year sponsorship extension is the continued operation of the Mounties Care CareFlight Helicopter. In addition to the helicopter, the sponsorship supports CareFlight to enhance its Northern NSW Patient Transportation Services which uses eight patient transportation vehicles and three B200 King Air fixed-wing aircraft; NSW-based Community Education including the CareFlight ‘Trauma Care’ and ‘Sick and Injured Kids in the Bush’ workshops, Crash Car Simulators, a community engagement helicopter simulator based at CareFlight’s Westmead location; and supporting CareFlight’s staff, including aeromedical doctors, pilots, nurses and support staff to continue delivering on their mission to save lives, speed recovery and serve the community. The re-signing adds to a rich 14-year history between CareFlight and Mounties Group, made possible through community support. In 2021, Mounties Group CEO, Dale Hunt, signed the largest community support package in Club history encouraged by his son’s own personal experience with CareFlight, aged three: “I first saw the advantages of CareFlight when my son, Bryce, needed rapid response care following a scary bout of life-threatening epiglottitis. I know first-hand the importance of keeping CareFlight’s patient transfer vehicles and helicopters in action, for the peace of mind of all Australians and especially those in New South Wales. “Continuing the relationship between Mounties Group and CareFlight was a no brainer, and we’re pleased to have the means to support this emergency service to keep saving lives through action and education through to the next decade.” In an age where every second counts, access to immediate care can mean the difference between life and death, says CareFlight CEO, Mick Frewen: “CareFlight’s work to save lives and serve its community mirrors Mounties Group’s purpose to improve the lives of its members. CareFlight started in Western Sydney, in the same geographical area as Mounties Group’s flagship Club, and together we’ve grown to service and support Australians not only in New South Wales but around the country. “This five-year sponsorship extension is a true testament to Mounties Group’s unwavering commitment to care and health services and allows us to grow our services and save even more lives, building upon a relationship that, ultimately, is priceless.”