A FLEET of new, state-of-the-art aeroplanes will help airlift patients to and from our town.
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NSW Air Ambulance showed off one of five new planes at Port Macquarie Airport yesterday.
Two larger Beechcraft King Air 350 and three new Beechcraft King Air 200 planes, which are similar models to the older fleet, have been operating since last month.
Extra features of the new aircraft include a bariatric stretcher for heavier patients, a paediatric stretcher restraint and a thermacot for up to four children.
Aeromedical manager Graeme Field said the planes landed Port Macquarie up to four times a day.
“We were really busy around the Christmas-New Year period,” Mr Field said.
The ageing and growing population in the Hastings has increased need for the service.
Patients are transferred along the coast from southern Queensland to Victoria, to hospitals and nursing homes.
Obesity has created a need to increase maximum patient weight in the planes from 140kg to 260kg, Mr Field said.
The new planes allow room for extra staff to treat patients with complex conditions, particularly heart and lung ailments, he said.
They also have extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation machines [ECMO] installed.
ECMOs continuously pump blood from a patient through a membrane oxygenator, which removes carbon dioxide and adds oxygen to support the patient’s heart and lungs, while treatment for underlying illness continue.
