Whitehaven coal
7 April 2016
Whitehaven marks $500k milestone for Rescue Helicopter
Whitehaven and our employees have donated more than $500,000 to the Westpac Rescue Helicopter over the past five years.
We support the service by matching staff payroll deductions and in FY15 the total raised was $102k of which $51k was through payroll deductions.
To mark our support for the service, Whitehaven Managing Director and CEO Paul Flynn visited the Rescue Helicopter helicopter base in Broadmeadow, Newcastle.
Pictured are Cliff Marsh OAM (Westpac Rescue Helicopter), Paul Flynn (Whitehaven Coal Managing Director and CEO), Richard Jones (Westpac Rescue Helicopter General Manager) and Tim Muldoon (Whitehaven Coal Group Manager Community Relations and Property).
To find out more visit http://www.rescuehelicopter.com.au/
Facts about the Rescue Helicopter
- No one has ever paid to be assisted by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service. That is because their fellow citizens and the NSW Government through NSW Health and the Ambulance Service of NSW provide the funds that ensure the rescue helicopters are there when and where they are needed.
- Established in 1975 a volunteer part time beach patrol in the Newcastle area.
- Today the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service includes four helicopters operating across the Hunter, New England – North West, Central Coast and Mid North Coast regions.
- The Service undertakes more than 1000 missions each year.
- It operates 24 hours a day every day of the year.
- The Helicopter attends missions that it is tasked to by the emergency services of NSW.
- On board the Rescue Helicopters is a crew of highly trained and skilled paramedics and medical staff, pilots, air and rescue crew members.
- The Service operates from purpose-built bases in Tamworth and Broadmeadow in Newcastle.
- Since 1975 the service has enjoyed a successful partnership with the Westpac Banking Corporation. The Westpac sponsorship is recognised as one of the longest serving corporate partnerships in Australia’s history. Since December 1975, the Service has been owned and operated by the community in partnership with the local Surf Life Saving Branch.