Patients’ lives no longer at stake

LYDENBURG – For the first time in more than a decade, emergency helicopter night landings will be able to take place at Lydenburg Hospital.

Deon Broekman of Rapid Response said that for years he had been pleading to get the helipad fixed, in order to assist with trauma and emergency dispatch.

“Helicopters of the likes of EMS could not land in town at night on account of poor visibility and limited landing space. The last time a patient had to be transported via air after dark, I had to assist the helicopter to land at the circle of the Head’s Centre. Even there lighting was a problem, as street lights were not working. The lights that were reflecting from the surrounding buildings, however, made the landing possible.”

While helicopters and powered-lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard surface away from obstacles where such aircraft can land safely. Volunteers have made it possible for night landings to once again take place at the hospital.

Pastor Dries Strydom of the Rehobot Church and Mohammed Cassim of Hanas (Mica) stepped up and are now fixing the dilapidated and neglected helipad. The lights for the landing pad were last replaced and fixed in 1990 by the then Xstrata group. According to Strydom, the fact that emergency landings could not take place at night was a huge problem. The church and Hanas sponsored the road paint that was used to improve the visibility of the pad.

“We completely sanded down the whole cement strip before we repainted it. We opted to use roadsignage paint. This is a little more expensive, but lasts a lot longer. We cleaned the entire veld along the pad and trimmed the grass and sides. The lights and their fittings were dug up and opened. All of the lights and fittings were submerged in water, which, of course, meant that electricity would trip should it be switched on,” said Strydom.

The paintwork for the landing area was completed on Monday. The light and fitting replacements will be done within the next month. Strydom said that nobody thinks about the need for the landing pad until one has to make use of it. “I have had to stand there when babies and trauma patients have been airlifted. Now there will be no need to postpone urgent treatment or hours of hospital transport via ambulance.”

Broekman said that the fact that this helipad will be completely usable by the end of the month will ease rescue work. “I have been working in Lydenburg for the past 12 years, and those lights have since then been inoperative. Critically injured patients will now get the urgent care they need without us having to worry about lighting conditions. This will aid rescue workers’, the hospital’s and paramedics’ work considerably, said Broekman”

Once the helipad is in full working order, this will be the only available helipad in the district. “This means that patients from not only Lydenburg but the likes of Sabie, Ohrigstad, Dullstroom, Belfast and other towns will also be able to make use of emergency airlifting,” Broekman said.