The rescue helicopter service covering Southland, Fiordland and Rakiura Stewart Island provided critical care to more than 2000 patients in the year to 30 June 2026, the Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter Trust reported this week.
The trust presented its 2025-26 annual report to a meeting of the Otago Regional Council on Wednesday. Trustee Stephen Woodhead and Graeme Gale of Helicopters Otago, which operates the service, made the presentation, the regional council said in a statement.
The service flies from bases at Taieri and Queenstown and covers the lower South Island from the Waitaki River and Haast Pass south to Stewart Island and the surrounding coast. It works with Southern Lakes Helicopters on Fiordland and Te Anau missions.
Day-to-day operations are co-funded by the Crown through Helicopter Emergency Medical Services New Zealand, with the trust fully funding new equipment and innovations. Over the past year the trust put nearly $1.4 million into the service, the council said.
That money bought new capnography units, which monitor a patient's breathing, as well as temperature gauges, helmets and life rafts. New sets of night vision goggles are on order and expected early in the new year.
Mr Gale said emergencies happen at all hours, and that without night vision goggles the service "simply wouldn't be able to respond to up to 50% of the patients" it is called to, according to the council's statement. Helicopters Otago helped introduce the goggles to New Zealand rescue helicopter work.
Mr Woodhead said the trust ran a low-overhead structure so that community donations went directly to the service, and that "our community's generosity enables us to support the world-class service we all rely on across the lower South Island." He said the region's geography and weather were challenging and that local knowledge helped crews respond.
The trust thanked platinum sponsor Landpower Group, long-time supporter the Otago Regional Council and Invercargill's ILT, which it described as a key community partner. Port Otago was welcomed as the trust's newest community partner.
Regional council chair Hilary Calvert said "none of us knows when we or our loved ones will need this service," and that the council would continue to support the trust's work as owner of Port Otago.
The trust's board is chaired by Dunedin businessman Martin Dippie and includes Southland entertainer Suzanne Prentice.
The 2026 annual report is available on the trust's website. The night vision goggles are due to be in service in the first months of 2027.
