When I first started talking to our Hanmer Springs Community Trust about the possibility of building a dedicated helipad beside our health centre, I was not thinking about ribbon-cuttings, speeches or the arrival of a brand-new rescue helicopter.

I was thinking about what happens when we have a critically ill or seriously injured patient who needs to get to Christchurch Hospital as quickly and safely as possible.

Hanmer Springs is 135km from Christchurch Hospital. Our health centre provides 24-hour urgent and emergency care to the local community, but we also care for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to Hanmer Springs each year.

Distance is simply part of rural healthcare. But when someone is critically unwell, 135km suddenly feels very significant.

For some patients, a rescue helicopter is their fastest route to specialist care. The question for us was whether we could make that transfer safer, quicker and more reliable.

The answer was a purpose-built emergency helipad immediately beside the health centre, connected by an all-weather concrete pathway.

Getting from the idea to the opening ceremony, however, was quite a journey.

From idea to reality

As Practice Manager, I found myself taking on another role alongside my day job: project-managing the construction of the helipad.

That meant working through the location and design, liaising with the rescue service and aviation specialists, coordinating contractors and suppliers, dealing with the practical problems that inevitably arise during construction and keeping the project moving — all while continuing to run the health centre.

There were plenty of less glamorous moments behind the eventual ribbon-cutting: measuring distances, checking plans, talking to tradespeople and suppliers and occasionally turning up with a ladder or screwdriver.

But I was fortunate to be surrounded by people who were prepared to contribute their expertise, time and resources.

The Hanmer Springs Community Trust, which owns the health centre and the new helipad, led the project. What followed became a remarkable example of what a rural community can achieve when it takes ownership of a problem.

Residents, businesses, community organisations, contractors and volunteers all contributed. Some gave money, others materials, labour or specialist expertise.

The community ultimately raised $69,156.13, exceeding its original fundraising target.

One of the largest contributions came from the “Night for Flight” fundraising event hosted by Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa, which raised more than $22,000.

There were also some wonderful examples of individual generosity. One local couple grew plants from seedlings and sold them at local markets to contribute to the project.

The Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust became an important partner, contributing approximately $46,000 of specialist helipad lighting. Its expertise, along with the advice and experience of Aaron Wafer, Deputy Operations Manager for Garden City Helicopters Aviation & Emergency Air Ambulance Services, helped ensure the facility was designed to meet the practical requirements of rescue helicopter operations.

Why the infrastructure matters

For those outside rural healthcare, a helipad might simply look like a concrete pad. But for our clinical team, it is much more than that.

The new facility is purpose-built, paved and lit, with a direct concrete pathway connecting it to the health centre. That means a seriously unwell patient can be transferred directly from our clinical emergency room to the waiting helicopter rather than being moved across uneven ground to a temporary landing site. For some patients, that difference could be significant.

We did not have to wait long to see the benefit. Before the official opening, the Canterbury Westpac Rescue Helicopter used the new helipad to transfer a patient with a serious spinal injury. The dedicated pathway allowed the patient to be wheeled directly to the helicopter rather than being transferred across uneven gravel, reducing unnecessary movement during a critical stage of care.

I was back in the UK visiting family when this first landing took place. Hearing that the helipad had already been used in such a situation brought home to me why we had undertaken the project in the first place.

As healthcare professionals working rurally, we cannot change our geography. We cannot move Christchurch Hospital closer to Hanmer Springs. But we can identify the barriers that geography creates and ask what we can realistically do to reduce them. The helipad is one practical answer.

Part of a bigger rural network

The project also sits within a much broader development of rural emergency infrastructure.

The Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust has supported communities developing helipads in places including Kaikōura, Cheviot, Geraldine, Fairlie, Ashburton and Timaru, with plans underway to replicate this approach on the West Coast.

The Trust itself has been investing heavily in the rescue service, including four new helicopters, instrument flight capability, paramedic training and pilot training. These investments are intended to provide a more reliable service that can reach patients more quickly and in a wider range of conditions, while delivering a high level of medical care at the scene.

At our opening, Murray Willocks, Chair of the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust, highlighted how communities are increasingly taking the lead by identifying their own needs, building support, raising funds and turning ideas into practical solutions. The Trust has been able to partner with those communities and provide specialist infrastructure such as helipad lighting. That partnership between rural communities and emergency services is important.

Photo: The official opening of the Hanmer Springs emergency helipad, a community-led project that raised more than $69,000 and attracted significant support 
from local businesses, volunteers and the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust.

What rural communities can achieve

One of the things I have taken from this project is that we sometimes talk about rural healthcare too much in terms of what we do not have.

We are 135km from our nearest tertiary hospital. We do not have every specialist service on our doorstep. Geography creates unavoidable challenges.

But rural communities also have something very valuable: people who know their community, understand its needs and are prepared to get things done.

The helipad brought together our Community Trust, health-centre staff, emergency services, the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust, local government, businesses, tradespeople, volunteers and hundreds of individual supporters.

It was not something simply delivered to us. It was something we built together.

The official opening on 1 August was therefore about much more than cutting a ribbon. It was a chance to recognise the people who had given their money, time, skills and energy to create something that may not be used every day, but could be critically important when it is needed.

“An investment in the safety, resilience and wellbeing of the community — giving people the best possible chance when every second counts.”
Marie Black, Mayor

I think that captures it perfectly.

The helipad will not eliminate every challenge. Even with IFR capability, weather will still sometimes prevent helicopter operation, and clinical decisions will always depend on the individual patient and circumstances.

But it removes one more barrier between a rural patient and the specialist care they may urgently need.

For our clinical team, it provides a safer and more direct connection to the rescue helicopter service. For rescue crews, it provides a purpose-built facility that improves access and operational safety. For our community, it provides reassurance.

And for the 400,000 to 600,000 visitors who come to Hanmer Springs each year, it is an investment they may never notice — until the day they need it.

When I stood at the opening and watched the new H145 helicopter land on the helipad for the first time, I reflected on how far the project had come.

What began as a conversation about a practical problem had become a permanent piece of rural healthcare infrastructure.

For me, that is the real story of the Hanmer Springs helipad. It is not really about concrete, lights or even helicopters.

It is about what can happen when a rural community identifies a problem, refuses to accept that geography is an insurmountable barrier and works together to create its own solution.