Students from around NSW are now on school holidays for two weeks as Term 1 ended on Friday. Students at Trinity Catholic College were treated to a special visit by the region's Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.

The visit was thanks to Westpac and their school landing program, which helps students learn more about the Rescue Helicopter and its vital role in the emergency response chain throughout Northern NSW.

Zeke Huish, a local spokesperson for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service, said the charity needs to raise over $3 million each year to continue to save lives from its Lismore base. The annual running costs, 24/7, from the three bases, Lismore, Newcastle and Tamworth is $50 million.

The helicopter is an AgustaWestland AW139 from Italy that costs $20 million. The pilots and the crew have to go to Italy to be able to be licensed and trained to fly the aircraft.

During 2023, the Lismore operation performed over 450 missions through its partnership with NSW Ambulance and NSW Health responding to emergencies/accidents, search and rescues, as well as transferring critically ill patients between hospitals.

Zeke said the the majority of funding comes from a medical funding agreement with NSW Health with the rest made up of sponsorships, like the naming rights to Westpac and fundraising opportunities throughout the year. Trinity students wore yellow and red on Friday to put some money into those donation coffers.

Pilot Dan Guillaumier, Air Crew Officer (ACO) Rod Morgan, Critical Care Paramedic Tim Rose and Dr Mizzy Campbell were on hand to answer any of the student's questions.

(Trinity students presented the Rescue helicopter team with a Certificate of Appreciation as well as donating money by wearing red and yellow)

Pilot Dan told students the team run 12-hour shifts so there is normally a day shift and a night shift. Dan is also the training pilot who ensures the other pilots are "up to standard" at the base.

Dan ran through the crews roles. While Dan's is obvious, the Air Crew Officer is to act as co-pilot, without being a pilot, and operate the winch if needed, while the Critical Care Paramedic and Doctor are the people saving lives and being winched into a situation if needed. During the day, they have 10 minutes to be airborne when a call comes through or 20 minutes at night.

Air Crew Officer Rod Morgan told the Lismore App that the relationship between himself and the pilot is critical to any flight because the pilot's vision is obscured.

"The issue is the pilot can't see where we winch into, so sometimes he will have no reference at all. He might be looking out over water or down a valley or something like that. If we're lucky, we can come up next to a cliff face or a tree or something and I give him a word picture with what we call standard patter. Then he will fly the aircraft following my instructions."

"Once we get overhead, then I'll say hold position height is good, maintain and then we will commence our winching operations. He may have next to no reference at all or just a tree."

Depending on the situation, Rod will then winch the Critical Care Paramedic to the patient and sometimes the Doctor, too.

"If it's a small boat offshore like a tinnie or into the water, the doctor stays in the aircraft. They're not tested for their ability in the water, but the paramedics are."

(Trinity students getting a closer look at what happens inside the Rescue Helicopter from Paramedic Tim Rose and Doctor Mizzy Campbell)

"If we're going into, say someone's fallen at a waterfall or in a creek line, we will winch the paramedic out with a winching stretcher and also some medical equipment. Then I'll bring the hook back up, bring that inboard, connect the doctor and some medical equipment and send the doctor."

At that point, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter usually has to leave the scene and return because it can run hot, particularly if they are heavy with a full load of fuel.

"It could be a job that might be really close to where we've departed from. In those sorts of situations, we're very limited in the amount of time we can spend in the hover, and it's the most dangerous thing for the aircraft."

"So once they have flying, they're very easy to continue to fly. It being a twin engine, we can fly with one engine, but if we're in the hover and we lose an engine, we may not be able to fly away. So, we prefer to actually move off, fly somewhere else, maybe even land or just do circuits in the area and then come back when they're ready. That can, depending on the patients condition, vary between 20 minutes or maybe even up to an hour."

"It is very much a team environment, particularly in those winching scenarios. The pilot has got to trust that I'm giving him the correct information. The Medical team has to trust that the pilot and I are working together well as a team, particularly at night time as the pilot and I are wearing night vision goggles. The other two are not, so we can see what's out there, but all they see is dark, and they might not be able to see anything. They don't know that it's necessarily 200 feet below, so they're going to be on the cable for a fair period of time."

There is a light under the helicopter throwing shadows to help the paramedic and the doctor, but vision is still very difficult. The method of communication can also involve hand signals between the medical team and the pilot/aircrew.

"The medical team will have hand signals as they get close to the ground. We also have radio comms if need be, but that's kind of a last resort. We try not to clog the airways because I'm talking, and we don't want them talking over the top of the ACO who's trying to relay that information to the pilot, because if he doesn't have a good reference, you can start moving around. What might seem like nothing up on top can make a huge difference down the bottom. Particularly if you are winching into a creek line, you're trying to get them onto a big rock. If the pilot was to lose reference and start to move, then you also start to induce a swing. From 200 feet, five foot movement up there might mean 30 feet down there."

"We're constantly using the standard patter trying to keep as much information and keep the pilot calm too. If you get worked up yourself, he starts to pucker up, starts to grab the controls a little tighter, and he has not got the confidence in the ACO. So, standard pattern and your demeanour is really quite important in those scenarios."

Rod mentioned that landing on the helipad on the hospital roof is the easy part of the operation. "These guys can do it with their eyes closed," he said.

"What was your most memorable job", was another student question.

"There's been many, it's hard to think," said paramedic Tim, "One that comes to mind is flying out to sea off Port Macquarie to get someone off a cruise ship, who was unwell and needed to go to hospital and have some surgery. It was a beautiful day, and I remember everybody in the cocktail lounge were inside and normally they're outside partying and enjoying the festivities. They couldn't wait for us to leave because they just wanted to get back out there and enjoy them again. But we got this person safely to hospital."

"I remember the flight being wonderful because there was barely any wind. The ocean was dead flat, like a pond, and you couldn't see any land in any direction. That was memorable."

Doctor Mizzy's was more gruesome.

"I've only been with this service since February, and I've got a few jobs already. There are some horrible ones, like, I don't want to scare you kids, sorry, young adults. But a motorbike rider whose leg was torn off. That's one that was pretty gruesome."

Trinity Principal Jesse Smith summed up the value of the Westpac School Landing Program.

"I think it's a great service that we have at our disposal, and the opportunity to have students dress in red and yellow accessories and donate money is really important to keeping the service in the air as well as to promote awareness around the importance of it. Very few regional cities have the luxury of having a helicopter in their hometown and we are one of them, so we need to support it."

To find out more about the Westpac Rescue Helicopter or give your support visit www.rescuehelicopter.com.au or to find out more about Westpac's Schools Program visit www.westpac.com.au/help/community/rescue/schools/.