Source: Radio New Zealand
supplied
A Fairlie farmer who ended up with a shattered leg after a farm accident has spearheaded a fundraiser to get his local town a new helipad.
It was a normal day on farm for Andrew Hurst, he’d just returned from a bull sale when he was driving a two-wheeler round his farm.
In a split second he was under a Hilux that he had not seen coming from the other direction.
He was airlifted to Christchurch where he spent weeks in hospital undergoing over 10 surgeries to put his leg back together.
Hurst credits the skill and speed of the rescue helicopter with saving his leg and after recovering he quickly went about fundraising $90,000 for a new helipad.
“I felt Fairlie needed something better than just a piece of grass to land on.”
The Westpac Rescue Helicopter is flying into Fairlie on Thursday to officially open the new helipad.
Hurst said it had been a real community effort, with the local Lions Club, companies the Fairlie Community Board, and the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust getting involved.
He admitted building the helipad was more complex than he first anticipated.
“Initially I thought I’d just be able to go down with a digger, scrape a bit of grass off and pour some concrete.”
“It turns out there’s a lot more involved in a helipad than that! But the helipad is as good as it could ever be, I’m stoked with what the community has achieved.”
Hurst said he would hate to think the rescue helicopter couldn’t help someone because it couldn’t land.
“This new helipad is on an IFR route, which means helicopters can fly here in low cloud or more adverse weather conditions.”
“We are a small, rural community, the rescue helicopter is the fastest way we can access critical care – the helipad will save lives,” he said.
Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust chief executive Christine Prince said the Fairlie community has shown an extraordinary level of commitment and heart throughout the helipad project.
“This helipad is a meaningful investment in the future health and safety of Fairlie which will benefit families for generations.”
She said the opening of the helipad is part of a major transformation of the region’s rescue helicopter service, known as MISSION 2026.
The Trust has purchased three state-of-the-art H145 rescue helicopters for the Canterbury West Coast region.
The first of these helicopters is now in service, with work underway to make the other two mission-ready.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
