RACQ CQ Rescue ‘aspires’ to spend $50m for new helicopters

The widely-respected charity has touched the lives of thousands with its near daily rescue missions across Central and North Queensland. Now, the service’s CEO is looking to new and better helicopters to propel it into the future.

Mackay’s chopper heroes hope to go further and faster and save more lives with the potential purchase of two brand new $25m helicopters.

It is understood the rescue service, which provides medical transfers from the Bowen Basin to the islands off the Mackay coast, is looking to a manufacturer to possibly replace its two Bell 412s with a newer and better option.

RACQ CQ Rescue CEO Tim Healee said the new choppers would maintain the service’s reputation for hi-tech excellence and save more lives.

“The newer helicopters will provide a much larger range so we will be able to cover a larger area much faster,” he said.

“We can go much further inland, we can go out to the islands or out to the reef, we can go further north.”

The helicopters would be 20-30 per cent faster than the choppers in use now and Mr Healee said the time saving could be as much as 45 minutes to an hour on a trip to a rural property or mine site.

Along with greater speeds, the new choppers would boast new tech such as airconditioned cabins.

Mr Healee said the helicopters could feasibly be purchased via a “hybrid” funding model, with contributions from the government, the community and then a financing scheme.

RACQ CQ Rescue Board Chair Chris Wright emphasised the new helicopters were “an aspiration” rather than a firm commitment.

“We do have aspirations at some stage and that is a fair way away,” he said.

“We can’t make too many decisions until the contract with Queensland Health is released and forwarded to us.

“We are trying to get a guide on timelines (from Queensland Health) and they do not give you too much set information on that.

“That is going to pretty much dictate everything for us.

“We have got a lot of unknowns out there at this stage.”

The state government and private donors jointly fund the rescue service, one of the few in Queensland to remain in community hands.

Mr Healee said the government kicked in a majority of the service’s yearly $12m operational costs.

Queensland Health provides the doctors and paramedics who are tasked to rescues.

The service needs to raise about $5m a year from the community to keep it going and Mr Healee said every dollar counted, from Central Queensland mining company contributions to coin jars in restaurants.

The fuel cost alone normally comes in at $52,000 a month, but skyrocketing prices have added about $10,500 a month to the bill.

The service burns more than 400L an hour, so on an average mission it uses more than 1200 litres while transporting someone ill or injured to hospital.

(From left to right) Quinton Rethus, Chris Muffett and pilot Doug White are three of RACQ CQ Rescue's dedicated professionals. Picture: Duncan Evans

In the past month, Bravus Mining and Resources has pledged $50,000 a year, made up of cash and fuel, and the service’s gala dinner on Friday night raised a whopping $240,000, a new record.

CQ Rescue also raised more than $240,000 in its annual appeal over June and July — another record and the first time in its 26-year history the service has exceeded its target of $200,000.

Speaking on the night, Mr Healee said community support enabled the board to “retain” the service “right here in Mackay”.

“People say to us all the time, ‘well maybe the government should just give you more money’,” he said.

“My response to that is, if that happens, we all know what that is like, the way the system is, if decision makers outside of this region start making decisions for this region, the first thing that would happen is a lot of times we might lose the service, we can’t guarantee keeping it here, it could be consolidated, it might be reduced.

“So the support we get from this region ensures we keep our very own helicopter emergency medical service here, in Mackay, and close to where we need it to be.”

Mr Healee said RACQ CQ Rescue was the busiest single helicopter service in Australia.

During August, the service’s pilots, aircrew and health professionals have been called out to a series of brutal jobs and complex medical transfers, including the shocking Bogie massacre on August 4 that took the lives of Maree and Mervyn Schwarz and Maree’s son Graham Tighe.

Ross Tighe, the lone survivor of the killings, suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach and the on-board doctor and critical care paramedic administered blood and drugs as the chopper raced to Mackay Base Hospital, where Mr Tighe underwent emergency surgery.

Critical care health professional Dr Siva Sivanujan said work on a rescue helicopter could not be “scripted” and he depended on his medical training and experience to make good decisions in high-pressure, time-sensitive situations.

“We also discuss cases,” he said.

Dr Siva Sivanujan in the doctor’s room at the RACQ CQ Rescue hangar. Picture: Duncan Evans

“We have a robust system of clinical audit, or a case-based discussion weekly.

“So you learn from other doctors, other paramedics and other medical personnel and by discussing you can live that experience a little bit and you can apply it.

“But you can’t script these cases.”

Mr Healee finished his speech on Friday night with a salute to the men and women he leads.

“If you think about the reasons why a helicopter might be called to an area, it is usually pretty serious,” he said.

“They are horrific scenes, they have to witness that, they have got to deal with that, they have got to hold it together, they have got to stay professional, they have got to stay calm … they are the real heroes in my mind because they have to deal with that and they also have to take it home as well.

“Let us toast the RACQ CQ Rescue crew.”