Allflex onboard once again

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Pictured above: The Allflex Livestock Intelligence team visiting the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter Hangar.

Philips Search & Rescue Trust is proud to announce an addition to our family of sponsors.

As a supporting sponsor of the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter, Allflex Livestock Intelligence is a well-known and respected agricultural based business in the Manawatu. Allflex are a world leader in the design, development, manufacturing and delivery of solutions for animal identification, monitoring, and traceability, with company operations, stretched across the globe.

The relationship between Allflex and the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter isn’t a new one, with both company and charitable trust having a previous association as far back as 1996 in the days of the formerly-named Tranz Rail Rescue Helicopter. By again aligning with the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter, Allflex Livestock Intelligence is confirming their belief in the air rescue service’s intrinsic value to the community.

When it comes to supporting their communities, farmers are some of the best.

“We wanted to follow our customers’ lead”, explains Jared Briggs, General Manager of Allflex New Zealand.

“Farmers work long hours in often remote areas of NZ 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. We [Allflex team] are proud to be supporting this service, it’s a small thing Allflex can do to help keep this helicopter and PSRT’s other rescue helicopters in the air,” says Briggs.

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’ commitment to come back on board is welcomed wholeheartedly by the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter.

“Allflex’ supporting sponsorship of Philips Search & Rescue Trust’s rescue helicopters is invaluable in ensuring that we can continue to provide this service,” says Philips Search and Rescue Trust Groups Manager, Vanessa Richmond.  “The continuation of time-critical, lifesaving flights undertaken to rural and remote areas is what sponsorship helps to achieve.  We welcome Allflex Livestock Intelligence back on board and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship serving our local communities.”

The Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter undertakes the majority of its missions to rural areas.

In the months of September and October 2020 alone, 57 missions were undertaken to rural regions where patients, finding themselves in sudden and distressing situations where their health and lives were compromised, benefitted from a swift response time-critical flight from their remote location to hospital.

Illness and accidents can happen to anyone at any time as Lex McKenzie of Apiti can attest to. He was on his rural farm property when he suddenly experienced a gnawing pain between his shoulder blades that wouldn’t subside. His wife intuitively phoned 111.  As the first responders to the scene walked into the house, Lex keeled over in front of them with a massive heart attack.

Immediate CPR began while Fire Brigade responders obtained access to the surest and speediest transport for Lex’ best chance of survival - the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter – a transport that would have taken 52 minutes by road.

“The rescue helicopter goes overhead quite a lot,” says Lex, “I look to see what direction it’s taking.  I want to know who’s life is being saved.  You can’t take life for granted.  It can disappear in front of your eyes.”

A rescue helicopter, equipped with highly skilled Intensive Care Paramedics and state-of-the-art medical equipment, flying in to remote and inaccessible areas, brings enormous reassurance to patients who find themselves in life-threatening situations, like Lex.

Cardiac events, seizures, asthma attacks, respiratory distress and various other medical emergencies took place several times over the past couple of months – as did callouts to anaphylactic reactions to bee stings, multi-trauma motor vehicle and bike injuries, rollovers, horse falls, and injuries as a result of chainsaws, falling trees and burning rubbish.

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.