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Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter completes 220+ missions in 2025

Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter completes 220+ missions in 2025

Thus far in 2025, the Hawke's Bay rescue helicopter crew have completed over 220 missions, resulting in numerous positive patient outcomes. Base manager and senior pilot, Bill Hartree says he commends his team's ability to perform in often unpredictable and challenging conditions. “We’ve seen a consistently high tempo again this year with the professionalism, teamwork, and calm under pressure I see every day a real credit to the crew," Hartree says. "Importantly, we’ve seen strong patient outcomes overall, which speaks to both the clinical expertise on board and the coordinated response from our partners on the ground.” In May, Willie Murphy experienced firsthand the expertise of the service when he fell headfirst 100 metres down a hillface. A mid-morning tour on a friend's farm turned into a hillside helicopter rescue as Murphy survived the fall suffering 11 broken ribs, a perforated lung and a broken foot. When Hawke's Bay's Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter crew received an epirb call, they expected the worst, and within minutes of arriving at the accident scene near Hastings spotted Murphy lying awkwardly on a sheep track unconscious. Jack Faxon Jr., a critical care flight paramedic recalls the winch rescue. “My general impression was that externally he looked well although he was in immense pain, his mates were applying pressure to the wounds on his head (their contribution cannot go unrecognised as they did a great job administering first aid with what they had to hand). Willie had several lacerations on his forehead that were bleeding when the pressure was removed. He was conscious but overall confused," he says. “Once we winched him into the chopper we landed and reassessed him, we gave him IV analgesia and oxygen as his respirations were impaired due to all the fractures. Given that he fell around 100 metres we think he is incredibly lucky - I have seen people die from five metre falls.” Murphy says he is acutely aware of how fortunate he is to have survived. "It was a beautiful day, and as we looked out toward Te Mata Peak, we could see all the way to the wind farm and the Kawekas in the distance. We were on a farm tour, and I was sitting on a grassy rise, taking in the sweeping views across Hawke’s Bay - completely unaware that just beyond the edge was a steep, dangerous drop. “When it was time to leave, I stood up but lost my footing in my gumboots on some long, tufty grass. The next thing I remember is tumbling headfirst down the hillside. I clearly recall thinking, ‘Oh my god, I can’t stop here.’ “The next moment I was conscious, I was lying at the bottom of a deep gully, surrounded by my mates. Hearing the sound of the helicopter overhead was a huge relief. I was struggling to breathe and trying to stay calm, even though my back and ribs were in agony.” Murphy spent nine days in hospital recovering from his injuries. He required no surgery, but 11 broken ribs, a ruptured lung and 16 breaks to the top of his foot have been “pretty sore and debilitating.” “I’m amazingly thankful there was only damage to my ribs and foot, my head took a lot of gashes and I was one rock away from a very different outcome to my spinal cord. “The calm reassurance and skill the crew showed that day getting me up to that skid and to hospital within an hour was pretty amazing. What’s more, six days later on a quiet Sunday my rescue crew came and saw me in hospital which was a pretty cool personal touch.” Hawke’s Bay’s Rescue Helicopter crew are bracing for a busy summer ahead as more people get outdoors in pursuit of activities. The service conducts around 400 lifesaving missions every year – made possible through essential Government funding combined with the generous support of local communities who provide grants, sponsorship and donations to sustain operations. If you are an individual, business or large-scale funder wanting to support the region’s critical air rescue service, please call (06) 878 1630. #HAWKE'S_BAY_RESCUE_HELICOPTER #medicine

Expert rejects defence claims of bone disorder in infant’s rib fractures

Expert rejects defence claims of bone disorder in infant’s rib fractures

A doctor has told a jury there is “absolutely no evidence” a baby’s bones were abnormal, rejecting defence claims of rickets and insisting the fractures were caused by force. The trial of a high-profile sportsman accused of causing 13 rib fractures to an infant continued at the Dunedin District Court on Wednesday. The Crown alleges the injuries were caused by force, while the defence argues underlying bone fragility and deficiency may be responsible. The court has heard from the infant’s mother, and friends and family of the defendant. All have vehemently argued that the infant’s injuries were not caused by the defendant, who is charged with injuring with reckless disregard and assault. The trial sharpened into a battle of medical opinions, with defence lawyer Anne Stevens KC challenging a Crown witness about whether the infant’s injuries related to a bone disorder. Professor Ben Wheeler, a paediatric endocrinologist and paediatrician working for the University of Otago and the Southern District Health Board, told the court his review of the infant showed “nothing that supports these abnormal bones … [the infant’s] bones appear to be normal for [its] age”. Wheeler outlined in his statements that the infant’s fractures showed clear signs of healing, indicating they were more recent rather than congenital. He told the court he had not been physically involved with the infant but had read hospital notes and imaging after its hospital admission. He said a repeat X-ray of the infant two weeks after their initial admission showed signs of rib fractures healing, suggesting a more recent issue. He told the court extensive investigations, including genetic testing for bone disorders, found no abnormalities. While a mild vitamin D deficiency was identified, he stressed this was common in infants in Otago and Southland and did not contribute to fracture risk. He told the court that without some form of supplementation, more than 50% of babies born in Dunedin would have vitamin D deficiency. He explained that rickets was the severe end of vitamin D deficiency and can rarely cause fractures, typically only affecting long bones in mobile children, resulting from a fall or such impact. “They don’t tend to break ribs. If you had rickets, which we don’t have here, a rib fracture would be very unusual. And multiple rib fractures would be extremely, extremely unusual.” He said if a severe bone disorder was present, further fractures would be expected with normal handling, and “if fractures occurred at birth, [the infant] would have had signs of fractures healing”. During cross-examination by Stevens, Wheeler again rejected the suggestion that vitamin D deficiency or rickets explained the injuries. Stevens pressed him on whether rickets could be diagnosed in an infant, putting to Wheeler that it was possible rickets could not be diagnosed in an infant of such an age. “No, you absolutely can,” Wheeler said. “We’ve looked at that extensively and [the infant] did not have rickets.” Stevens put to Wheeler the views of overseas radiologist Dr Julie Mack, who is expected to give evidence later in the trial, and suggested Mack had identified rib changes consistent with rickets. Wheeler refused to endorse that view, saying he would defer to local radiologists rather than the defence’s overseas expert. “I’d be concerned about Dr Mack... I would want one of our local radiologists to review that, we wouldn’t go overseas for that opinion.” “Dr Mack makes an assumption that because there are so many fractures, and no cause is noted, that this must be due to fragility. In my opinion that is a massive assumption,” he said. “The pattern and the number of fractures strongly suggested a non-accidental injury with substantial force in my experience,” he said. The trial continues. Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.

LLMs easily exploited using run-on sentences, bad grammar, image scaling

LLMs easily exploited using run-on sentences, bad grammar, image scaling

A series of vulnerabilities recently revealed by several research labs indicate that, despite rigorous training, high benchmark scoring, and claims that artificial general intelligence (AGI) is right around the corner, large language models (LLMs) are still quite naïve and easily confused in situations where human common sense and healthy suspicion would typically prevail. For example, new research has revealed that LLMs can be easily persuaded to reveal sensitive information by using run-on sentences and lack of punctuation in prompts, like this: The trick is to give a really long set of instructions without punctuation or most especially not a period or full stop that might imply the end of a sentence because by this point in the text the AI safety rules and other governance systems have lost their way and given up Models are also easily tricked by images containing embedded messages that are completely unnoticed by human eyes.

New Zealand launches campaign to find love for rare and lonely left-spiralling snail Ned

New Zealand launches campaign to find love for rare and lonely left-spiralling snail Ned

Nearly all common garden snails have shells that coil to the right but Ned the snail’s left-spiralling shell results in reversed reproductive organs – a barrier to mating If you thought your dating pool was limited, spare a thought for Ned, a very rare snail unearthed in New Zealand. Due to a left-spiralling shell, Ned has a vanishingly small chance of finding a mate – a predicament that has sparked a nationwide campaign. Nearly all common garden snails have shells that coil to the right but Ned’s left-spiralling shell is like a mirror image, resulting in a flipped shell and reversed reproductive organs – a configuration that affects roughly 1 in 40,000 snails . Continue reading...

Matthew Ellery, who killed his girlfriend’s baby, denied parole

Matthew Ellery, who killed his girlfriend’s baby, denied parole

A man who threw his girlfriend’s 6-month-old baby headfirst on to the floor, then smothered her with a nappy, has said he “couldn’t handle the screaming and crying”. Baby Serenity Scott-Dinnington died two days later at Starship children’s hospital but it would be months before Matthew Ellery owned up to what he’d done, instead blaming his partner’s brother for the assault. Now, having spent more than 13 years behind bars after pleading guilty to murder in 2013, Ellery has given some insight into why he did what he did. “I was having arguments with my partner quite a lot, which made me angrier at everything I was doing,” he told a panel of the New Zealand Parole Board on Tuesday as he became eligible for early release. Ellery said on the night of the murder he had an argument with Serenity’s mother, Chelsea Scott, about the baby crying and how he felt he was looking after the girl rather than her. “I thought I shouldn’t have been looking after her child,” he told the board. “I couldn’t handle the screaming and crying... At the time, I was very frustrated and angry.” According to the summary of facts, Ellery moved in with Scott and her brother Drew in early 2011 and within a few months became aggravated by the child’s crying. Ellery went into Serenity’s room while her mother and uncle were playing cards in the living room, grabbed her by the legs and threw her headfirst on to the floor. Matthew Ellery (left), pictured with Chelsea Scott, was jailed for killing Serenity Jay Scott-Dinnington (right). Photos / Supplied He then took a cloth nappy and smothered her until there was no more noise. Ellery then went to the dairy, came back to the house and smoked a cigarette before going back into the room where he saw Serenity’s eyes rolling back into her head. He called out for Chelsea Scott to call an ambulance. “Once I went to the shop, I was not thinking; I was in too much shock,” Ellery told the board. “I couldn’t believe I’d just taken the life of an innocent child.” ‘I was scared of being put in jail for the rest of my life’ While Ellery was forthcoming at the hearing about his involvement in Serenity’s death, at the time, he was less than upfront, instead blaming Drew Scott. He even appeared on Campbell Live in July 2011 alongside Chelsea Scott to profess his innocence. At his sentencing in 2013 after a guilty plea, Drew Scott said he was cut off from his family and assaulted following the false accusation. The board questioned why Ellery had done something so callous. “At that point, I was again just shocked about what I’d done. I was scared of being put in jail for the rest of my life,” he said. “In my mind, it was easier to blame someone else than take full responsibility.” Serenity Scott-Dinnington died after being dropped on her head by Matthew Ellery in 2011. Photo / Christine Cornege Ellery has not had any misconduct in prison since 2019, when he falsely accused another inmate of sexual assault. He explained to the board he was afraid of the man. A personality test conducted by a prison psychologist found Ellery was inclined to distort reality to maintain a positive self-impression. When asked what he thought about this, Ellery said: “No one likes to be put down, but I have learned to sit with those comments and not react now.” ‘I’ve learned to stop and breathe’ Ellery said at the time of the murder he was smoking a lot of cannabis and would do a lot of stupid things to get hold of it; however, it just made him angrier and less patient. These days, he says, he doesn’t need drugs and alcohol to live a good life. “I’ve learned how to control frustration, which has been a big part of my offending in the past,” he said. “I’ve learned to stop and breathe and expand how I’m going to respond to certain situations if I get put into a risky situation.” Ellery has been working on Waikeria Prison’s dairy farm and hopes to work in the same industry if he’s released on parole. At the hearing, he wasn’t seeking release as he...