Fundraising blue as rescuers clash

The Westpac Life Saver Helicopter faces competition from a Gold Coast rescue service.

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A CHARITY bike-ride raising funds for the Gold Coast-based CareFlight rescue helicopter service yesterday cycled into a storm of protest by pedalling into a rival rescue-helicopter’s revenue base.

Nearly 40 cyclists taking part in a ride from Tweed Heads, through Ballina, Lismore and Kyogle to Murwillumbah organised by the Murwillumbah Central Rotary Club raised the ire of the Lismore-based Westpac Life Saver Helicopter service which is fighting for its future.

The CareFlight service headquartered at Robina was slammed for hoping to benefit from the goodwill of northern NSW residents sponsoring the bike ride.

“There aren’t enough charity dollars available as it is; we don’t need an outside helicopter service coming in and asking people in our region to support them,” Westpac Life Saver helicopter executive Nyree Epplett said.

“This week, we launched a fundraising appeal that is critical to the future sustainability of Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter. I just hope the public is not misled into making a donation to the wrong rescue service,” she said.

Murwillumbah Central Rotary Club president Tony Worrad was on his bike on the way to Lennox Head yesterday and unavailable. But vice-president Denis Hallworth said RACQ CareFlight was chosen as one of two charities to benefit from the ride because its helicopter base at Gold Coast Airport was closer.

“I imagine the CareFlight Helicopter would be a lot closer if you had an accident at Kingscliff,” he said.

Mr Hallworth said the funds being raised were coming from Murwillumbah and Tweed Heads.

A spokeswoman for RACQ CareFlight defended the fundraising, saying that service’s primary flight region included Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah, Byron Bay and Ballina.

“These areas are regularly visited by our crew as part of the hundreds of life-saving patient rescues our helicopters perform every year”, she added.

A Westpac Lifesaver helicopter spokesman said that was “simply not correct”.

“Northern NSW is not part of CareFlight’s ‘primary’ flight region. It does sometimes come into this region if Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter is unavailable. Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter’s primary flight area begins at Tweed Heads.”