South-west Victoria’s emergency air ambulance has responded to over 160 critical medical emergencies, hospital transfers and rescues in its first year, Premier John Brumby said today.

At the south-west helicopter’s hanger in Warrnambool, Mr Brumby was joined by Health Minister Daniel Andrews for the first anniversary of its service, cutting a cake to mark the occasion.

Mr Brumby also officially dedicated two new commemorative gardens in recognition of the strong community support for the introduction of a dedicated south-west air ambulance retrieval service.

“Our Government understands the importance of providing regional and rural Victorians with high-quality ambulance services, that’s why we invested $20 million to provide a new dedicated air ambulance retrieval service for south-west communities,” Mr Brumby said.

“In medical emergencies, this helicopter service has flown critical cases directly from an incident site to a major trauma centre in Melbourne, saving time and improving patient safety.

“The new commemorative community gardens are a fitting memorial to honour the local community for its wonderful support for the new air ambulance service.”

The Government delivered the south-west air ambulance ‘chopper’ as part of a major $185.7 million boost in the 2009/09 State Budget which also included another statewide 24/7  medical retrieval helicopter and 258 additional paramedics to provide 59 new and upgraded services.

“This is in addition to the record investments we are making to modernise and upgrade regional and rural hospitals including here in Warrnambool where the hospital is undergoing a major $115 million redevelopment,” Mr Brumby said.

“We understand how important first-class health, hospitals and emergency services are to the future prosperity of our regions and we will continue to improve these services for regional and rural Victorians.”

Mr Andrews said the new helicopter responded to a serious car accident on its very first day of service on July 1, 2009, flying the occupant directly to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.

“In total, the chopper has responded to 81 time critical medical emergencies and conducted 74 inter-hospitals transfers. The helicopter has also performed six search and rescue operations at the request of the Australian Maritime Services Authority,” Mr Andrews said.

“The helicopter is able to carry two crew, two patients and three attendants and is equipped with a GPS, weather radar, search light, rescue hoist.

“It can travel at speeds of up to 242km/h and has a flight radius of 280 kilometres.”

The Ambulance Victoria facility at Warrnambool includes a hangar and purpose-built storage areas. It also has rest areas for MICA flight paramedics and pilots, as well as an operational flight planning area and rooms for meetings, training and general administrative duties.

Mr Andrews said Victoria’s ambulance service was the best in Australia thanks to the work of Victoria’s paramedics and record funding from the Brumby Labor Government.

“Our Government has more than tripled the funding for our ambulance services and doubled the number of paramedics providing care to Victorians,” Mr Andrews said.

“There are now over 2600 operational paramedics in Victoria, with more than 1000 providing care in rural and regional communities.”