LifeFlight save record numbers of patients in 2022

From thumbs amputated by raging bulls, to travellers stranded by floodwater, LifeFlight’s Townsville branch have been incredibly busy over the past 12 months.

Townsville’s LifeFlight emergency rescue crews are punching above their weight, saving record numbers of people throughout 2022.

The figures have been revealed as the LifeFlight Australia service announced it had used it’s fixed-wing fleet of aircraft and specialists to care for 487 patients last year as they were transported to hospital.

RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Air Ambulance Operations Manager Tyson Smith said the fleet of vehicles had been kept busy over the past twelve months.

“That figure actually means that we transported that many sick or injured patients to a hospital on our RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Air Ambulance jets,” Mr Smith said.

“Most of those transfers did contain our Critical Care Doctor and Nurse, who responded to anything from stroke patients to newborn babies who needed a higher level of care, to come into a major city for that treatment.”

Brad Jackson, Riley Schmidt, Mal Cunningham and David Williamson.

The Air Ambulance service, which operates out of Brisbane, Townsville and Singapore, uses a fleet of four Challenger 604 aircraft that have been modified to be able to transport two patients each.

Townsville’s fleet had transported 266 patients in 2022, while the Brisbane based vehicles serviced 221.

LifeFlight’s Mt Isa-based helicopter saved eight New Years travellers stranded by floodwaters at the close of last year, but perhaps the story that most demonstrated the service’s value was the story of young Riley Schmidt.

Rilley Schmidt aboard the plane that he was transported in.

Riley, who was transported by LifeFlight after a gruesome thumb injury sustained during training for a rodeo event, was rushed to Townsville Hospital before surgeons there decided treatment in Brisbane was necessary.

While surgeons were unable to reattach Riley’s thumb, the young gun’s rodeo hopes haven’t slowed down and he’s very appreciative of what LifeFlight and the surgeons on the other end did for him.

“They didn’t save my thumb, but it could have got a lot worse or could have lost more of my thumb, they did really good,” Riley said.

Brad Jackson, Christina Schmidt and Riley Schmidt.

“They tried to reattach it three times, I had a lot of surgeries in the time I was there.”

LifeFlight also operates 10 rotary-wing helicopters that serve the community in times of need.

RACQ Spokeswoman Lauren Cooney said the LifeFlight crews had done ‘another incredible job’ throughout a year that saw them challenged by Covid and other knock-on impacts.

“RACQ is incredibly proud to sponsor such a vital service that helps so many Queenslanders every year,” Ms Cooney said.

“All Queenslanders deserve access to the absolute best hospital and health care no matter where they live throughout Queensland and the jets make this possible, serving people in really remote locations.”

Mr Smith said that the Townsville jet was ideally placed to cater to a number of remote locations that would otherwise struggle.

“Location and range. We can get up to the tip of Queensland much faster than we would if we had to deploy an aircraft from Brisbane,” Mr Smith said.

“We can also get into Central Queensland and those much more regional areas to bring patients back into major hospitals.

“Townsville’s a really busy base because of how many remote communities are up in that area.”

Originally published as LifeFlight save record numbers of patients in 2022