Exclusive: In flight with the Flying Doctors
6 Jan, 2021 04:00 PM
4 minutes to read
High above the Southern Alps, flight nurse Helen Poole is comforting a very ill woman being flown to Christchurch hospital. Poole is one of about 20 highly skilled intensive care unit nurses who work in the New Zealand Flying Doctors.
The service has three specially-converted planes based at Christchurch airport. Photo / Logan Church
This Christchurch-based service is seeing rapid growth in demand, flying on average about 100 missions per month between January and September 2020, 17 per cent higher than during the same period in 2019.
The
Herald was given exclusive access to the NZ Flying Doctor Service and spent a day with crews flying missions across the country.