A heartfelt donation

The Kelliher Charitable Trust is proud to support the life-saving work of the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust.

For more than 50 years, this essential medical service has assisted the Greater Auckland, outer islands and Coromandel communities. As one of New Zealand’s most trusted charities, it is reliant on the community’s goodwill and support to help keep it operational 24 hours of the day, 365 days of the year - helping patients and their loved ones in their greatest time of need.

The Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter is the first civilian aero-medical operation of its kind in the world and, with a clear focus on improving patient outcomes, it continues to go from strength to strength. Today, with a fleet of three helicopters including two state-of-the-art Leonardo AW-169s and a Rapid Response Vehicle, it is tasked to well over one thousand missions a year. Flight crews consist of highly-skilled and experienced pilots, air crew officers and intensive care paramedics. It is the only civilian helicopter service in New Zealand to have pre-hospital and retrieval medicine doctors also on board any given time of the day or night.

Through the support of the Kelliher Charitable Trust, the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust has been able to acquire a Zoll X Series monitor. Chief Intensive Care Paramedic Karl Taylor says this monitor is one of the most critical pieces of equipment carried on board the helicopter.

“It is a life-saving piece of equipment that we could not do without,” he says, “Many of our patients require complex treatment and procedures. With the Zoll X series monitor, we can deliver superior standards of patient care. Cardiac monitoring including delivering electrocardiograms (ECGs), defibrillation, blood pressure monitoring, oxygen saturation levels and the time-critical transfer of essential patient data are just some of its many benefits.”

“Lightweight and durable, it is ideal for testing pre-hospital environments. It has already proven to be robust enough to be winched into dense bush and off-shore marine environments,” Karl says, “We are very grateful for the Kelliher’s Charitable Trust’s care of our community through their generous support.”  

Caption:

Intensive Care Paramedic Andreas Schold (left) and Pre-Hospital and Retrieval Medicine Doctor Louise Park with the Zoll X Series monitor.