BACKING YOU, BACKING THE RFDS Every edition of Seasons, we bring you the expertise and equipment that supports you in the paddock but when we say Elders is for Australian agriculture, we’re talking about something that goes far beyond the boundary fence. Every farmer and everyone who wears a pink shirt is part of a community that pulls together. That’s why Elders is backing the people who back you and your family, the Royal Flying Doctor Service. As a major sponsor of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Central Operations, which serves South Australia and Northern Territory, Elders is making a $300,000 contribution towards the upgrade of its fleet of flying intensive care units. The medically-equipped RFDS aircraft VH-FXW, or ‘Whiskey’ as it is known, will continue to airlift two patients a day throughout South Australia bearing the Elders brand on its fuselage. Over the past year alone, ‘Whiskey’ has flown over 470,000 kilometres and airlifted almost 1,000 patients from 55 different regional and remote communities to specialist medical treatment. VH-FXW is one of 20 aircraft operated by RFDS Central Operations located across its SA/NT network of aeromedical bases in Adelaide, Port Augusta, Alice Springs and Darwin.
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With the capacity to transfer two stretchered and critically-ill patients at any point in time, ‘Whiskey’ will continue to serve the community through: > emergency evacuations of the injured or critically-ill from outback communities; > aeromedical transfers of patients interstate for life-saving surgery such as organ transplant and heart surgery on newborn babies; > delivery of essential primary health care such as GP consultations and immunisation of children during ‘fly-in’ health clinics to remote communities; and > transfer of patients from regional and bush hospitals to major hospitals in Adelaide, Port Augusta, Alice Springs and Darwin for higher levels of care. Doing our bit for RFDS, a vital part of our community, is just one of the ways Elders stands for Australian agriculture.
