Chopper to the rescue

The Sunshine Coast RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter on Thursday 13 July airlifted a man, aged in his fifties, after he was kicked by a cow at a property near Cooroy.
The man was treated for head, neck and shoulder injuries, before he was flown to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a stable condition.
The RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter has so far this year attended to 44 patients around Queensland with animal-related injuries involving cows, bulls, horses, sharks and snakes.
LifeFlight Retrieval Medicine’s director of Clinical Services and Governance Dr Mark Edwards said rescue crews had this year responded to an average of two animal-related incidents a week.
“The incidents range from snake bites or marine stings such as Irukandji, to people who have fallen from horses or been trampled by bulls. Often these incidents are time critical and life-threatening,” he said.
Sometimes, with animal falls or injuries, patients suffer spinal injuries and that requires careful management and movement of patients.
“In the case of a snake bite, often it’s hard to tell if the patient has been envenomated or not, so it’s critical to get the patient to hospital as quickly as possible,” Dr Edwards said.
“LifeFlight Doctors and RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopters often land on rural properties for animal-related injuries. Falling from an animal or being attacked by one can cause significant crush or trauma injuries that require immediate medical attention.”
It was a record for the highly trained LifeFlight crews during the 2016-’17 year, performing 5252 missions.