Philips Search and Rescue Trust

A saving grace for rural communities

When it comes to supporting their communities, farmers are some of the most dedicated people, and one of the most common and widely valued services that is supported by farmers is the rescue helicopter service. You only need to ask around and there’s an overwhelming response from farmers that they do, or have, donated money to a rescue helicopter service. It will come as no surprise that the majority of helicopter rescue missions are to rural areas.

In the months of September and October 2020 alone, 57 missions were undertaken by the Palmerston North rescue helicopter to rural regions where patients, finding themselves in sudden and distressing situations where their health and lives were compromised, benefitted from a swift response timecritical flight from their remote location to hospital. That is why Allflex New Zealand have followed farmers lead and come on board as an associate sponsor of the Palmerton North rescue helicopter service. Philips Search & Rescue Trust (PSRT) is the charity responsible for fundraising and promotion of the North Island’s largest pool of community rescue helicopters. With four rescue helicopters servicing the North Island and a fixed-wing air ambulance plane which services both North and South Island, it’s no surprise that Allflex have decided to support a charity which provides such life-saving medical equipment and expertise to a large rural area. General Manager of Allflex New Zealand, Jared Briggs says farmers work long hours in often remote areas of New Zealand and access to emergency health services is difficult. “The Philips Search & Rescue Trust’s rescue helicopters bridge that gap, helping our farmers in their hour of need by providing a truly lifesaving service,” he says. The Allflex team is proud to be supporting this service, it’s a small thing that Allflex can do to help keep this helicopter and PSRT’s other rescue helicopters in the air,” Jared says. The commitment made by Allflex, means the Manawatu and Whanganui regions served by the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter can have confidence in the ongoing sustainability of an essential life-saving emergency air rescue service. Due to rising costs and safety measures, further increased by a nationwide health emergency, challenges continue in meeting increased expenses to operate rescue helicopters in Philips Search and Rescue Trust’s four Central North Island regions. “Allflex’ supporting sponsorship of Philips Search & Rescue Trust’s rescue helicopters is invaluable in ensuring that we can continue to provide this service,” Philips Search and Rescue Trust Groups Manager, Vanessa Richmond says. “The continuation of time-critical, lifesaving flights undertaken to rural and remote areas is what sponsorship helps to achieve. We welcome Allflex Livestock Intelligence on board and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship serving our local communities.” The Westpac Air Ambulance, the fixedwing plane owned and operated by Philips Search and Rescue Trust is a visible and vital nationwide emergency service.

| Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter based out of Palmerston North hospital covers the Manawatu-Whanganui and surrounding areas and is proudly sponsored by Allflex NZ.

| Allflex team celebrating its three-year sponsorship of the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter, one of four rescue helicopters which is owned and operated by Philips Search and Rescue Trust.

Operating for over 25 years, the Westpac Air Ambulance has flown over 3,000 hospital patients and new-born babies needing specialist care to all main centre medical facilities in the country, from its operational base at Hamilton Airport. The team undertake numerous and diverse tasks, ranging from intensive care transfers, nurse-led transfers, delivery suite transfers, new-born intensive care transfers, and bariatric patient transfers. Patients come from regional and rural regions for regular and important treatments and are transported from city hospitals to regional hospitals. Patients with acute medical conditions requiring surgery, critically ill patients requiring specialist care and cardiac and intensive care patients have all benefitted from the professional and dedicated service offered by the Westpac Air Ambulance. “The experience, considering the condition I was in, was amazing.

| The Westpac Air Ambulance fixed-wing plane, owned and operated by Philips Search and Rescue Trust, is a national service providing time-critical, lifesaving flights.

I had a very caring team. From the pilots to the nurse, the care couldn’t have been more wonderful.” – Gordon, who was flown from Invercargill Hospital to Waikato Hospital says. Allflex and Farmlands are focused on providing true tangible value to its farmers which is why the three-month eartag promotion supports the PSRT partnership. 1 percent of all Allflex sales during January to March will be donated to PSRT.

Visit your local Farmlands store to place your Allflex eartag order. Help us, help you and your fellow farmers.

Article supplied by AllFlex