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In 2026, CareFlight reflects on 20 years as part of the Northern Territory

Four days after birth, Alexis struggled to breathe. Her tiny body was jaundiced, and tests revealed a serious heart condition. With specialist surgery needed thousands of kilometres away, a CareFlight team flew her and her family to Melbourne, providing hospital level care for the entire journey. Within hours of landing, Alexis was in surgery.

Over the past twenty years, stories like Alexis’s have become a part of everyday life in the Northern Territory. This year, as the aeromedical provider marks two-decades operating in the Top End, it’s celebrating a milestone defined by the people who have shaped the service. From remote clinic staff and community leaders to pilots, engineers, doctors, nurses and local volunteers, CareFlight’s work in the Territory has always been a shared effort – built on showing up when it matters most.

Long-serving CareFlight NT crew member Thomas Vidins, Flight Nurse and Midwife, who spent years as a Registered Nurse at Royal Darwin Hospital before joining CareFlight in 2016, said it was the people, not the aircraft, that defined the work.

“You can land in a place you have never been before and still be welcomed straight away. People meet you on the strip, help however they can, and trust you with their family. That stays with you — it is never just a job,” Vidins said.

“In this job, we have the opportunity to be invited into unique situations and meet incredible people across the Top End. I love that we don’t just provide medical treatment, but we have the opportunity to care for those we carry.”

This deep connection to the Territory is rooted in the organisation’s early years. In 2006, while already conducting medical jet retrievals to and from Darwin, CareFlight began working closely with local partners to establish an even more reliable service – one that could get critically ill and injured patients to the advanced care they needed – quickly. What began as a service primarily supporting Australians overseas and international neighbours soon became vital to the Northern Territory, filling a critical need to transport Territorians to interstate hospitals for lifesaving treatment.

With each year, the realities of the Top End became clearer, and the service continued to evolve. Fixed wing aircraft were joined by a long-range rescue helicopter and supported by road-based transport and we introduced community education, strengthening the network of first responders in some of the most remote locations where those first critical minutes can make all the difference.

Today, aeromedical crews, road-based patient transport teams, specialist clinicians and support staff operate across an area of roughly six hundred thousand square kilometres. Alongside emergency retrievals, CareFlight supports inter hospital transfers, road-based patient transport, maritime response and community education, working with local health workers, volunteers and residents across the Territory.

CareFlight NT General Manager Jodie Mills-Mitchell said the milestone belonged to the Territory.

“This service exists the way it does because Territorians shaped it from the very beginning. We rely on community knowledge, strong local partnerships and people being willing to stand together in difficult moments,” they said.

“From complex multi-aircraft responses to reaching patients in remote regions, each mission we complete reflects a pattern of cooperation between Territorians, communities, health workers and crews working together. It is a story of Territorians standing together to make sure help reaches those who need it, when it matters most.”

That spirit of collaboration is at the heart of CareFlight’s work, and is especially vital in the Top End, where more than ninety per cent of patients assisted through medical retrieval services are First Nations people. This underscores the importance of strong, trusted relationships with communities and remote health clinics.

First Nations artist and proud Yolŋu woman from Galiwin’ku Community on Elcho Island said those partnerships were built on listening and respect.

“For us, it comes down to relationships. When services take the time to understand community and work properly alongside us, people feel safe.

“The dedication and hard work of the CareFlight team are deeply appreciated by our community, and their efforts have not gone unnoticed. Their work reaches far beyond transporting patients, it represents the collective effort of a skilled and committed national team providing lifesaving treatment and care. Their influence extends across states and generations, touching countless families and communities,” she said.

As CareFlight enters its next chapter in the Northern Territory, it remains grounded in the relationships that have shaped it from the beginning. With two decades of experience in the Top End, the focus remains on working alongside communities, health workers and local partners to provide dependable care and support Territorians for generations to come.