Despite a week in which their aircraft was at times off-base for maintenance the Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue Helicopter team still delivered a tight schedule of nine missions for the seven days from Monday, March 18.

Intermittent cloud cover made for a patchy first half of the week, which the team started by responding to a medical event in Ruatoria on Monday (1.30pm) and the same again on Wednesday (4.30pm). The first patient was flown to Gisborne Hospital in serious condition, while the second was stable.

First thing Thursday morning Eastland Rescue Helicopter’s BK-117 aircraft (HNP) was flown to Napier for routine maintenance, a cover helicopter (HEP) arriving 12 hours later with teams from Tauranga and Taupo covering three missions throughout the day.

While flying HEP the Gisborne team completed three missions – a medical event at Tolaga Bay (Friday, 12noon); another at Te Kaha (Friday, 2pm); and a trauma at Tokomaru Bay (Friday, 5pm).

Then soon after HNP’s return on Friday evening, the team was dispatched at 9pm to transfer a patient in serious condition from Gisborne to Waikato Hospital.

And over the weekend they carried our three further missions:

– Saturday, March 23 (7pm), transferred a patient suffering a medical event from Wairoa to Gisborne Hospital;

– Saturday, March 23 (8pm), responded to a motor vehicle accident at Tokomaru Bay, flying the patient in stable condition to Gisborne Hospital;

– Sunday, March 24 (11.10am), was called to a trauma at Ruatoria, with the patient again flown in stable condition to Gisborne Hospital.

CAPTION: TIGHT TURNAROUND: The Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue Helicopter team’s pre-sunset mission to Wairoa Hospital on Saturday (left) was followed just an hour later by an 8pm call-out to a motor vehicle accident at Tokomaru Bay (right).