Bendigo Health’s helipad has increased the throughput of patients at its two cardiac catheterisation laboratories, prompting the hospital to call for more specialist nurses in order to expand the service.
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The helipad has been used to transport 54 patients since in became operational in July – bringing 18 patients to the hospital and taking 36 out of Bendigo.
Around half of the 18 inbound patients had heart troubles and the remainder had been involved in car crashes, according to Bendigo Health board chair Bob Cameron, who said in some cases the treatment had been life saving.
“The sooner you can get to treatment the better the prospect there is of survival. It can make a big difference to the outcome,” he said.
Bendigo Health clinical director of cardiology Doctor Voltaire Nadurata said the hospital had received patients across the state, from Swan Hill to Cobram.
“We can open those blocked arteries that's causing the heart attack in about half an hour (from landing),” he said.
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“It (air ambulance) is really making a lot of impact, not just for the people of Bendigo but the people of the entire region.”
Doctor Nadurata said the hospital needed specialist cardiac-trained nurses to expand the service in its cath labs.
“We need more staff. We would like to provide this (service) seven days a week,” he said.
Doctor Nadurata suggested the Loddon Mallee region tended to have some of the higher rates of heart disease in the state and across Australia.
Bendigo Health director of nursing emergency care Carol-Anne Lever said the hospital had the capacity to treat most road trauma incidents, aside from neurosurgery – meaning anyone with a serious head injury would likely be choppered to Melbourne.
Ambulance Victoria in August said the new helipad had shaved at least 30 minutes off the process to transport patients.
Ambulance Victoria’s Brad Martin said patients previously had to be flown to Bendigo airport and transferred to the city’s public hospital via road ambulance.
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