Page 3298 - Week 10 - Thursday, 25 September 2014
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Snowy Hydro SouthCare
MR COE (Ginninderra) (5.43): I rise today to speak about the Snowy Hydro SouthCare service. All members would be familiar with the work of the Snowy Hydro SouthCare helicopter. Further to this, I know our colleague in the New South Wales parliament John Barilaro is a big supporter of the services they provide in his electorate of Monaro.
Snowy Hydro SouthCare began in l998 as the primary provider of aero-medical and rescue helicopter services to people in the ACT and south-eastern New South Wales. The helicopter undertakes three main types of missions. Primary missions are those where crews fly direct to the scene of an accident and transport patients as quickly as possible to the hospital. Secondary missions are those where the rescue helicopter transfers patients from regional areas to major hospitals, and non-medical missions include search and rescue missions, and they are also assisted by the Bushfire Service with aerial firefighting.
While the helicopter’s base is on the Monaro Highway, Snowy Hydro SouthCare’s primary service area extends east to the coast, south to the Victorian border, and west to Hay and north to almost Sydney. The helicopter completes an average of two missions every day of the year.
The helicopter is an ideal rescue vehicle. It can move quickly over any type of terrain, land or sea. It can also hover in the air, allowing the crew to rescue people from places that may not necessarily be accessible by other vehicles. Once the patient is in the helicopter, the doctor and intensive care paramedic can begin necessary medical treatment while the patient is being transported to the nearest facility.
Since 1998, the helicopter has completed over 5,600 missions. These missions would not be possible without the generous support of the community, volunteers, community sponsors and their partner, Snowy Hydro Ltd.
I would like to place on the record my thanks to all those involved with this wonderful service. The board of directors comprises the chairman, David Marshall, and other members include Helen Leayr, Lisa Barlin, Kathryn Campbell, Mike Castle, Jure Domazet, Graham Gulson, Anne Kowalski, Eoghan O’Byrne, Vicki Williams, James Willson and David Hogan. The ambassadors are Len Goodman AO, Stuart Diver and Michael Milton. The staff are led by Owen Finegan as CEO, and include Simon Cosier, Alison Tonkin, Naomi Ford and Amy Linsell.
The sponsors are many and varied. They include Snowy Hydro Ltd, Capital Region Farmers Market, GoPro, Thales, TransGrid, Veolia Mulwaree Trust, Airservices, Bendigo Bank, Alacrity Technologies, the Good Guys, John James Memorial Foundation, Capital Chemist, WIN News, Canberra Milk, Ricoh, Jones Lang Lasalle, Barter Card, ClubsACT, Coordinate, Griffin Legal, CanPrint, the Canberra Times, Kowalski Recruitment, Freemasons, Lions International, Rotary International, and James Boag.
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