Help on Holiday

Donna Edge

Peter and Donna Edge, photo by Damian White - courtesy of the Warrnambool StandardOn 10 February 2008, Donna Edge, her husband Peter and two good friends were enjoying their holiday with a morning motorcycle ride through the Thredbo area. It was a pleasant day and they were making their way to Corryong after having travelled from Merimbula and through to Jindabyne. The holiday ended when an unsuspecting kangaroo jumped in front them on the road.

Donna was knocked out immediately and only remembers, "Waking up with lots of people around." Peter sustained cuts, scrapes and road rash, while Donna fractured her ankle in two places and shattered the bones in part of her left hand.

Far from their home and dairy farm in Koallah, Victoria (near Camperdown), the two were thankful for the emergency-room nurse and two off-duty policemen who happened to be in the area and were keen to help. Between the good Samaritans and a nearby Ranger's station, the Snowy Hydro SouthCare Helicopter was activated early on and arrived at the scene at 12:03pm.

Donna was very grateful to the medical crew took her to the hospital saying, "[The] guys were so positive all the time and made me feel so comfortable and at ease." She also praised the hospital, which was her home for a week, saying, "The Canberra Hospital has been good to me. The staff is wonderful."

After heading home to her family at their dairy farm, Donna says the experience has changed her. She had known friends who needed to use a helicopter service before, but this is the first time she had ever been so close to the Service herself. "It has definitely opened my eyes to a few things," says Donna.