The Hands of Rescue

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The Hands of Rescue

The THOR Foundation’s focus is on achieving Safe Motherhood for women in Papua New Guinea.

The Hands Of Rescue Foundation (THOR) is a not for profit organisation in Papua New Guinea. The THOR Foundation’s focus is on achieving Safe Motherhood for women in PNG. Our work involves nine key interventions which are designed to reduce maternal deaths by increasing supervised deliveries. Most women die in child birth from blood loss associated with delivering in a remote village. Some women ma

de it to a health centre after they delivered but they still died. Clearly there was time to intervene in a majority of cases but mothers (and husbands) generally didn’t realize they had a problem until it was too late. Please like our page to help raise awareness and receive updates on this valuable project.

07/08/2026

The importance of keeping rural airstrips open was highlighted today with our landing at Salamo on Ferguson Island in the Esa’ala district.
This airstrip had been closed for 28 years but several weeks ago we asked the contractor to clear it for us. After several weeks of hard work and repeat cutting it started looking like an airstrip again.
This morning we received a call from the emergency physician at Alotau Hospital to say they had a young man with severe head injury from an accident in the garden. He was cutting down a tree when a branch struck him on the head and also struck his axe which hit him in the head also. He was in a coma with a 50/ 50 chance of surviving the injury. Because the airstrip had been cut and the community really tried their best to get it safe, we were prepared to ‘test’ it with a landing and takeoff. The community were in tears when we landed.
Having a rural airstrip open is vital to the local health centre and local community.

06/08/2026

Kalokalo Rescue 2/8/26 - PART TWO

About ten minutes had passed when the ambulance burst out from the scrub with lights and sirens blaring. I’m sure this display was just for the children and canine friends warning them to stand clear and to “create the scene” as the road is in no condition for travel anything over 10 kilometres an hour.

We were so happy to see our mother had arrived and had survived the night, thanks to the caring staff at Kalokalo Health Centre and guidance from Dr. Rodney Talo at the Alotau hospital. A large crowd had now gathered to supervise the tricky manoeuvre of placing our mother, and her sister-in-law (guardian) holding the mothers baby girl from the ambulance into the back of the Beaver. It requires many hands to lift the mother from ground level into the cabin of the Beaver which stands two meters off the ground. But with Bolubolu staff, Kalokalo staff, myself, along with many others present, the mother appeared to just float on air into the cabin in no time at all.

Sr. Kila settled the mother, guardian and baby comfortably in the cabin while I placed heavy sacks of yam and cargo in the float compartments. It’s a necessary part of any medivac in PNG is to also bring the patients food along, enough food for their stay in the hospital. “The yam express” we sometimes call ourselves. Sandra gave us a gift of fresh tomatoes and shallots from her “Kalokalo airstrip” garden and it was time to say goodbye to our fellow health workers, village children with their village canine friends and battle the elements again.

We lifted off after a short ground roll and pointed into the strong SE wind and the Beaver was once again in her elements where she feels most comfortable. Kila was in the cabin adjusting things, IV fluids, blankets and comforting our mother in prayer until she fell asleep to the rumble of the Beaver and from sheer exhaustion I suspect. For her journey to reach help and survive this pregnancy had started almost 48 hours ago.

The turbulence eased as we rounded Bolubolu point and entered Moresby Strait heading for the Garuahi gap 60 nautical miles ahead. The weather had gone from clear skies to a low cloud base and poor visibility in the space of a nautical mile. With the headwind holding us back to just 71 knots ground speed it was going to be a slow return trip, but it didn’t matter too much as the mother and baby slept soundly in the cabin all the way. After 4 cups of coffee, Garuahi Gap came into view and provided us with a safe passage through the Owen Stanley Ranges under a covering of low cloud and rain. Fifteen minutes later we landed at Gurney airfield. We fast taxied to our hangar apron and no sooner had the Beaver shut down, NAC staff came to assist. Betty (NAC) carefully took the baby from Sr. Kila while she prepared the mother for transfer to the ambulance now making its way to us along the tarmac.

The mother once safely in the ambulance received a THOR Baby Bundle as a parting gift with much love and respect from our team, before departing on the final leg of her journey to the Alotau Hospital. There she would receive the definitive obstetric care she needed. She had suffered so much in the past 48 hours. Her resilience and trusting that all will be well even with the odds stacked against her is typical of PNG women and deserves recognition and respect.

We have to thank the first responders who recognised she had a problem after delivery in the village and brought her to the Kalokalo Health Clinic by dingy in rough seas. Although it was an 18 hour delay before reaching Kalokalo, it was the first step in saving this mothers life. Many mothers don’t make it out of the village because it’s too late before someone realizes she has a problem. Sister Sandra and her staff’s care and treatment in consultation with Dr. Talo, stabilized her deteriorating condition in the remote health centre. Sandra and staff stayed up all night watching over their mother and her vital signs improved ever so slightly, but enough.

We were happy and privileged when Sandra reached out to us for assistance to get the mother into Alotau Hospital. And even on arrival back at Gurney airport, NAC staff rushed out to assist.

But the story is not about anyone of us. It’s all about the hardships rural mothers face in rural PNG giving birth to this nation and trying to make it safer for them. It took a lot of caring, compassionate and loving people to bring this mother home. It really does go to show, It Takes A Village in remote PNG to save a mother’s life.

Sincere thankyou to:

The caring people of Naborua Village, West Ferguson Isl.
Sr. Sandra and Kalokalo staff
Bolubolu staff
Vivigani Villages
Obstetric Team at Alotau hospital
NAC staff at Gurney airport
Rotary Boroko
Ambulance and dingy drivers

05/08/2026

Kalokalo Rescue 2/8/26 - PART ONE

It was 7.43 pm when we received a call from Sr. Sandra, the sister in charge of Kalokalo Health Centre, to say she has a 36 year old mother who had delivered a healthy baby girl in the village two (2) days ago, but the placenta was still retained. She hadn’t attended any antenatal clinics for this pregnancy, and it was her sixth child. All previous deliveries were in the village.

The mother had arrived by dingy in a rough sea from a coastal village along West Ferguson Island around 2pm. On arrival at the health centre, Sr. Sandra tried to remove the placenta by a controlled cord traction without success. A manual removal of the retained placenta (MROP) was considered, however after consulting with the hospital obstetric team, the safest option was to apply a compression garment and refer her into Alotau Hospital since the mother had minimal bleeding.

Sandra relayed the mothers’ vital signs to me and they were not good. With a rapid pulse and a low blood pressure, barely enough to perfuse her vital organs, I could see she wasn’t doing so well even with the compression garment in place. We needed to retrieve this mother without delay. First thing in the morning didn’t seem fast enough for us, but it was 8pm and the best we could do was work out a safe medivac plan and pray she would improve overnight.

We extract most patients out of Kalokalo from our sea plane base at Wailagi Health Centre in Mud Bay, which is always protected except when a northerly is blowing. In the present SE strong winds and rough seas, the narrow Moresby Strait separating Kalokalo from Mud Bay is dangerous but doable.

The other option is to cross the Moresby Strait to Bolubolu Health Centre which is shorter and use their ambulance to transport the mother to Vivigani airstrip. Although the road to the old wartime airstrip is short it is often cut off by the many mountain streams which cross its path. These are prone to flash flooding from Mount Madawa dominating the Goodenough landscape. The floods are short lived but leave behind large boulders which may close the road to the airstrip for months. Then assuming the road is open, the health centre’s ambulance must be operational and have diesel. Such is life in rural PNG. The decision, Wailagi or Vivigani for pickup would be decided in the morning.

5am came quickly. I took on extra fuel just in case we had diversions due to weather. It was clear skies, full moon at 5.30 am but by 7am the ranges we must cross were covered in low cloud and misty rain. We finally received a text from Sr. Sandra to say the mother had improved overnight, and they were getting ready to leave for Bolubolu Health Centre and Vivigani.

We had a 35 knot tail wind on our tract to Vivigani which took us down Moresby Strait between Goodenough and West Ferguson Islands. Doing 130 knots ground speed, Goodenough Island appeared out of the white misty cloud in quick time. We rounded Bolubolu point and broke out into clear skies under the watchful gaze of the imposing Mount Madawa. Flying past Bolubolu station, I could see the health dingy had already arrived at the beach. We followed the rocky road out to the old airstrip but I couldn’t see any ambulance

The kunai grass was waving madly at us, in one direction then another. We slowly crabbed our way down and straightened out just before the wheels contacted the old pavement.

Only one third of the pavement is serviceable. The rest is covered in patches by tussocks and short scrub which have been cut off just above ground level. The stubs are now black, fire hardened spikes from regular burning and could easily puncture the tyres on the Beaver. We floated over the last of the burnt patches before letting her settle and run for a short distance to the end of the strip.

There was no ambulance waiting when we came to a stop at the runways end. A text came through from Sr. Sandra to say they were coming now. “We had to find diesel for the ambulance first. Children started appearing out of the kunai grass from the villages we had passed over. I could feel the Beaver was lifting slightly with each wind gusts buffeting us on the ground, so I asked the children to sit on the pontoons to add more weight. It didn’t take much persuasion. We took photos and chatted while waiting for the ambulance to arrive on the scene.

30/07/2026

Mercy Flight to Esa’ala to save a mother with a life-threatening condition
We received a call at 7.30am from the Officer in Charge of Esa’ala Health Centre, nurse Gabriel, who would prove to be a real guardian angel by the day’s end.

Gabriel relayed to us that he had a mother who was 32 weeks pregnant, baby was transverse lie, the mother had extreme pain on her right side, and she was bleeding. He was concerned as the mother was deteriorating and could we please help.

The Beaver was ready for such an emergency and we were airborn by 8.05am.

The seas were very rough as we crossed the Goschen Strait during the 30 minute flight to Esa’ala on Normanby Island.
We rounded Gigipwala Point and headed east towards Dobu Island. Esa’ala health centre is located on a sandy beach inside a small bay at the northly end of Normanby Island. This was going to be a water landing, as the Salamo airstrip which lies just a short hop across the water on Ferguson Island has been closed for 26 years. Closer inshore, a 15 knot SE wind was wiping up a small choppy swell. The reefs were clearly visible just breaking the surface marking the narrow passage into the beach head. It was 8.45am when we grounded on the sand bar just short of the beach in front of the health centre.

Esa’ala Health centre is a clean and well organised facility under the leadership of Gabriel. There were two mothers in the post natal ward leading into the labour room. Staff were gathered around the mother preparing her for the flight back. After a brief handover, Kila reassured the mother, covered her with a warm blanket and secured her on the slide stretcher and into the cabin.

Helpers pushed us off the sand bar and turned the Beaver into the wind and held her there while we started and powered up quickly to taxi through the passage. Once clear of the reef we turned down wind for a considerable distance before turning into the wind.

45 minutes later we landed at Gurney and a waiting ambulance to rush her into Alotau hospital. It was now 10.00 am
At lunch time we received a call from Gabriel. He had followed up on the mother and reported she had a ruptured uterus. Sadly she had lost her baby.
On reflection, 5% of all pregnancies are life threatening and require medical intervention for the mother and/or baby to survive. When a mother presents at a remote health centre for delivery and she develops a life-threatening complication, it requires a team effort to get the mother to the referral hospital for life-saving surgery. Time delays are often fatal. It requires caring, compassionate health staff to make this happen. If it wasn’t for the quick actions of Gabriel reaching out to us early morning, the outcome for this mother would have been fatal.

Many thanks to:
Gabriel and the staff at the Esaála Health Centre
Ambulance Driver
Alotau Hospital staff
NAC staff at Gurney Airport
Rotary Boroko

07/07/2026

A challenging Wailagi Retrieval 30th JUNE 2026

An 11 year old boy receives life threatening injuries from an accidental stab wound to the chest following a fall while gardening on remote Goodenough Island at 9am. A village councillor had a dingy and took Ganson to the Wailagi Health Centre across the bay. He arrived there at 10 am and Isabel, the sister in charge called Dr. Mataio, the Emergency specialist at the Alotau Hospital Emergency Department to discuss the case. As the day progressed, Sr. Isabel contacted the Bolubolu Health Centre, 10 nautical miles away, requesting an oxygen cylinder which arrived by dingy an hour later. Dr. Mataio rang us at 3pm requesting our assistance to retrieve Ganson as his condition was deteriorating and he needed urgent medical care in Alotau hospital. Wailagi is a fifty-minute flight there and back and last light is at 6pm. It was always going to be a “flying back in the dark scenario”.

Dr. Mataio arrived at the THOR base at 3.45pm after lengthy delays at the hospital end with transport. We arrived over Mud Bay on Goodenough Island at 4:45pm and set down to a smooth water landing in the bay and taxied up to our sea plane base at Wailagi. We found Ganson lying semi upright supported by his uncle in the ward. He had fast, shallow breathing, swollen eyes and unable to talk. Dr. Mataio quickly established he had a right sided pneumothorax and inserted a chest drain for the trip back to Alotau with the help of light from staff mobile phones. Ganson showed some improvement after the procedure. We took off at 6.07pm with five people on board and it was already getting dark. The full moon was rising over Normanby Island on our port side as we made our way south across Ward Hunt Strait, while slowly climbing towards the Owen Stanly Ranges. With a full moon and a cloudless sky, except for the usual long white cloud along the Stanley ridge line, it was perfect nighttime visual metrological conditions (VMC). Once over the range, we commenced our decent over the Milne Bay waters, and the lights of Alotau town and the more distant Gurney lights were like welcoming stars in the Milky Way in front of us.

By the time we descended to 2000’ we were already in the circuit area of the Gurney airport. The hospital ambulance had been waiting for almost an hour for us at the hangar. Ganson, his father Moses and Dr. Mataio departed for the Hospital quickly on arrival. Ganson was later found to have a hemopneumothorax also on his left side and another chest drain was inserted. Leaving Ganson overnight at the Wailagi Health Centre was never going to end well and we are thankful they made the call for an emergency medivac.

Now on Day four (4), with Ganson’s father Moses, and mother Keron by his side, Ganson is all smiles. Keron while relaying the story to Sr. Kila expressed her deepest “thankyou’ and was adamant it was God through my prayers that saved my son. As we reflect on the challenges and events that unfolded that late afternoon and into the night, “We totally agree”.

Thankyou to Moses and Keron with permission to use photos. Dr William Mataio, Alotau Hospital, Ambulance driver Markson, Faiva Community, Sr. Isabel and Wailagi Nursing team, Bolubolu Health centre, Rotary Boroko, NAC Gurney Airport.

21/06/2026

This week Dr Barry and Sr Kila spoke at Reset@50 and shared their insights around maternal health in PNG today. Reset@50 has reviewed PNG’s journey so far, looking at its successes, failures, and how it repositions for the next 20 years. @50

22/04/2026

Flying Doctor Update: Medical Evacuation Misima Island

Yesterday we received a call up to assist a mother who was pregnant with her fourth child. Her journey began a week ago from the far side of Sudest Island. With the seas still heaving in the aftermath of Cyclone Maila, the family had planned to have their baby at Nimoa Health Centre – a 20nm dingy ride from their village. With the labour not progressing well, they were taken to Misima Island – a 6 hour journey in big seas and we then received that call to help with emergency obstetric care and evacuation. We quickly packed our plane and took off in driving rain from Alotau, picked up our patient and her carer, then flew back. Gurney airstrip was a welcome sight after a four hour round trip.

The hospital ambulance and crew did an amazing job of making the family from Sudest Island feel comfortable, safe and welcomed. We then gifted the family with our Baby Bundle, a food parcel, a blanket, quilt and sanitary pack (with thanks to Rorary Boroko, Atherton Ladies Sewing Group, Days for Girls and Time Abel). Every mother, everywhere deserves and safe birth surrounded by compassion and care.

21/04/2026

Tropical Cyclone Mailia – Update 8

Shining a spotlight to two local organisations, Rotary Boroko, Brendon Coombs and Driftwood Resort, for their support of THOR and the Milne Bay community during these difficult times. From food packages to fuel, their donations were received by the most vulnerable communities in their time of need. We are so blessed to live and work in such a wonderful and supportive community. Thank you!

20/04/2026

Tropical Cyclone Maila – Update 7

The crew aboard Iceberg continue to work tirelessly to deliver food packages, equipment, fuel and supplies to the islands around the Milne Bay Province. From Woodlark to Rossell, Michael, Scott, Kristin and the Iceberg crew have delivered relief and supported local communities over the past fortnight. We are forever grateful for their quick response to the call up for help during this very difficult time. Thank you 🙏🙌

17/04/2026

Tropical Cyclone Maila Update 6 - it takes a village

The work done to support cyclone-stricken communities most in need has been nothing short of amazing. To see individuals, organizations and communities come together to raise money, donate equipment, and assemble food packs has been heartening. Shining a spotlight today on Tim Abel, the Alotau Chamber of Commerce and their supporters who donated 70 food packs with basins and solar lights, 30 x 15 litre water containers and 30 tarpaulins. What an incredible effort in such a short period of time. Your support and donations have already touched the communities most in need. Thank you 🙏

Address

PO Box 599
Alotau

Telephone

+61735128888

Website

https://www.thehandsofrescue.org.au/

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