MAF's life-saving flight for 3-week-old baby on Atauro Island
Struggling to breathe, three-week-old Jiona joins an MAF plane on Atauro island for a flight to save her life
Struggling to breathe, three-week-old Jiona joins an MAF plane on Atauro island for a flight to save her life
Concerned father Judianto brings his sick three-week-old daughter Jiona to the MAF plane on Atauro island for a flight to save her life.
Baby Jiona was having difficulty breathing with a bronchial infection and needs help not available on the Timorese island..
The island is picturesque but isolated. A ferry goes once a week to link the island to the mainland of Timor-Leste and there are also water taxis and fishing boats if the sea is calm enough. All forms of sea transportation take time though, and time was what Jiona did not have.
When her parents took her to the local island clinic, midwife Dulce Freitas knew she needed hospitalisation on the mainland urgently.
Fortunately, MAF was able to help.
Pilot Jonathan Lowe finished the flight he was on and immediately took off from Dili again, heading across the open stretch of water to Atuaro Island.
Jiona’s parents and midwife were waiting anxiously when he landed. None of the four had flown in a plane before and while that would normally be a worry, today they had other things on their minds. With a quick prayer for the baby’s safety, Jonathan was airborne again.
The flight took a mere 13 minutes and when Jonathan landed, an ambulance was waiting at the MAF hangar to transfer the group to Dili hospital. A quick flight certainly, but one where MAF was truly flying for life.
This is the ninth medevac MAF has carried out from Atauro Island since the runway at Atauro Island opened in July.
MAF's planes provide life-saving ambulance flights in Timor-Leste, and helps missions, relief and development workers reach and serve in more isolated areas
Versatile and spacious, the GA8 Airvan is ideal for rugged terrain and gruelling conditions MAF operates in.
Illness, accidents and childbirth complications can be catastrophic for those living in remote and isolated areas. Hours or days of overland travel to reach the hospital are not an option for those with life-threatening medical problems
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Back in 2013, MAF Timor-Leste received an urgent call to help 23-year-old Elizita Cardoso, a young mother whose joy at expecting twins turned to fear when she began to show signs of pre-eclampsia pregnancy complications.
Living life waiting for the phone to ring is a big part of a pilot’s life in Timor-Leste. Even on public holidays, birthdays and Christmas Day, a pilot and a hangar assistant are ready and waiting for a call.
During March 2018, the plane in Timor-Leste flew sick patients to receive medical care, flew government officials, transported staff from aid and development organisations... along with delivering 15,000 baby chicks!
MAF flew a team to Lospalos to install a new Christian radio service that will help to reach 30,000 people with the Gospel.
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