28-Nov-2012 Source: Child Flight
Telstra Child Flight, founded by the community as the emergency helicopter service for critically ill children, has been helping to save young lives across NSW and the ACT for some 23 years.
We have survived storms, floods, bushfires and funding shortfalls and we have dealt with critical life-or-death situations on a daily basis. Our specially fitted-out helicopters have airlifted some 8,000 children to urgent treatment at major hospitals.
For years the charity has been fighting for its own survival and without the ongoing support of our sponsors, especially Telstra, and grass-roots community fundraising, the service would have ceased long ago.
Child Flight’s contract with Ambulance NSW, part of the NSW Department of Health, expires on the 31 December 2012, and after a long wait, the decision regarding a future provider has been announced by the Health Minister, Jillian Skinner:
Child Flight will NO LONGER provide this vital service.
After more than two decades in the air, the only emergency helicopter service specialising in the transport of critically ill kids has lost its Ambulance NSW contract to a new operator as of 1 January, 2013.
With less than six weeks before contract commencement, the new contractor will be challenged to be a service equal to Child Flight, which raises concerns for the communities affected and questions about the fairness of the NSW Government’s tender process.
Child Flight wishes to thank our current sponsors, Telstra, Tradies, Ron Crouch and Convoy for Kids, for their continuing support during this difficult and uncertain time. We also thank the many wonderful and dedicated volunteers for their support of Child Flight and their fundraising efforts.