ORANGE Mayor Reg Kidd and council staff are hoping a late-night lobbying session will help Orange secure a 24-hour helicopter rescue service for the Central West.
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Cr Kidd and staff spent Monday evening on the phone to Member for Bathurst Gerard Martin, Minister for Lands and Rural Affairs Tony Kelly and Primary Industries and State Development Minister Ian Macdonald, urging their support for government funding for a 24-hour service.
At the moment, the service only flies during the day.
Council representatives will today meet with NSW Ambulance aeromedical retrieval officials to find out if their bid is successful.
Monday night’s intensive lobbying followed rumours Orange was to be overlooked for the service, with figures suggesting it was not warranted.
Cr Kidd said at today’s meeting, which will be held in Orange, he will relay council’s commitment to the service, explaining it has already invested $1 million in the project.
“And that’s on top of the millions of dollars people in Orange and the Central West raised to support the CareFlight service when they had the contract. It’s about saving the lives of people in country NSW,” said Cr Kidd.
Chief executive officer of NSW Ambulance aeromedical retrievals Ron Manning and operations manager Chris Lees will visit the helicopter base on Bathurst Road today.
They will inform doctors, paramedics and pilots of the results of an independent study into whether 24 hour service is justified in the district.
“I am remaining very hopeful that Mr Manning and Mr Lees will understand how people of Orange and the Central West feel dudded that Wollongong which has the same statistics for retrievals as Orange has a service and we don’t,” Cr Kidd said.
“Orange is this fantastic medical precinct with a hospital that will be level five, a dentistry school and pharmacy school and it’s crazy to think we have been overlooked.
“There is absolutely no logic in why Wollongong, which is 12 minutes flying time from Sydney, has been given a 24-hour service with a bigger and faster helicopter.”
The Central Western Daily understands about 40 critically ill patients a year are transported by helicopter and the extra hours would cost around $2 million. However Mr Lees said any public comments would be premature before staff at the Orange base were informed of the independent consultant’s report.
Member for Calare John Cobb said he is prepared to whip up support throughout his electorate..
Mr Cobb said last week the NSW government has a moral obligation to come up with the funding for the Central West which has raised millions of dollars in the last 10 years to help CareFlight establish a service here before it lost the contract.