NEWS
WORDS BY MELISE COLEMAN
T A K I N G
FLIGHT LAST WEEK OC LIFE WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO CATCH UP WITH THE TEAM AT AMBULANCE SERVICE OF NEW SOUTH WALES ORANGE, AS THE CREW PREPARED FOR THEIR LAST SHIFT AT THE ‘OLD BASE’.
T
he new base is now located at the Orange Airport, local Critical Care Paramedic Matt Ellis said, “I’ll be sad to leave, I’ve been here for 14 years now, though it’s a whole new facility out there, and it’s a safer operation as well because we are flying an aircraft in and out of the airport. “The progress that has been made
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is fantastic, when I started with Care Flight we would have a pilot, aircrewman and just one paramedic during the day time mainly, and when the weather was good. Now we have a Doctor, Pilot, air crewman, a specialist doctor and a specialist paramedic on every flight, 24 hours a day.” The Redmond Place facility, which
Air Crewman, Tara Johnson, Critical Care Paramedic Mark Ellis, Pilot Grant Kahler and Retrieval specialist Doctor Greg Button.
began as Care Flight, was built entirely on community donations including plenty of help from local businesses. Queensland Pilot Grant Kahler added, “It is the gold solution, the airport is a better place to have a base. I flew in yesterday just to fly the helicopter. I’m doing the last shift which is really awesome because I
have a soft spot for Orange, and having spent quality time with some amazing men and women here. But the future is bright, there’s no doubt, operating out of the airport is better, the aircraft is going to be bigger and better, it’s a faster aircraft with more capability.” The Ambulance Service of NSW is unique from any other ambulance
service as their front-line staff have the opportunity to specialise into diverse areas such as Rescue, Special Casualty Access Team (SCAT), Aeromedical services, Snow operations, Rapid Response, Counter Disaster and Patient Transport Service. We wish these amazing humans the best as they settle in to their new digs and continue to do and achieve big things!