Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter now Grassroots Trust Rescue Helicopter

The rescue helicopter's new Grassroots Trust branding. Photo / Brad Hanson

The Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter is now the Grassroots Trust Rescue Helicopter.

The new name was revealed at a function at the helicopter's hangar at Palmerston North Hospital last week.

In a three-year agreement, Grassroots Trust is providing $750,000.

Philips Search and Rescue Trust is the charity responsible for fundraising and promotion of the rescue helicopter. Trustee Stewart Davies outlined the service's history.

In 1990, then mayor Paul Rieger got together a working group of interested parties. The next year, Philips was selected as the operator. The service was initially based at the airport with one pilot.

The fulltime crew of medical personnel and pilots is available 24/7 to respond to callouts. It has flown about 10,500 missions since 1991, Davies said.

"Every one of those missions has a story behind it."

The hangar at the hospital was built by the army with Palmerston North Middle Districts Lions Club doing the fundraising.

Seventy per cent of the service's $4 million annual operating cost comes from the government, leaving $1.2m to come from the community.

Grassroots is now part of the family and when trustees and venue operators see the helicopter flying they will know they are part of a person's recovery or lifesaving mission, Davies said.

Grassroots Trust Central chairman Sean Hannan (left) and Philips Search and Rescue Trust trustee Stewart Davies. Photo / Brad Hanson

Grassroots Trust Central chairman Sean Hannan said every dollar granted comes from the community. The trust had great venues for gaming machines including Castle 789 in Palmerston North.

It was important all funding raised in the region gets spent in the region.

Philips Search and Rescue Trust was founded in 1985 after an endowment by Philips New Zealand to mark a plane crash near Turangi in which two Philips employees lost their lives.