Women airlifted after snake bites her in bed near Glenmorgan

The Toowoomba-based LifeFlight Surat Gas Aeromedical Service was tasked to a property near Glenmorgan just after 1am where a woman in her 20s had been bitten by an eastern brown snake.

The woman's family applied bandages to the snake bite on her hand before the local Queensland Ambulance Service paramedic arrived.

The rescue helicopter flew her to Toowoomba Hospital for further treatment in a stable condition.

LifeFlight chief medical officer Dr Allan MacKillop said the woman's family had performed the correct first aid in response to the snake bite, which was critical.

"From what I understand they applied the first aid measures immediately and that is so important because the brown snake is the second most venomous snake in the world and there are still deaths in Australia every year," he said.

"You can be dead within 30 minutes of the snake bite.

"Brown snakes do tend to come into urban or rural urban environments as well so they do tend to come into houses and lie under sheets of iron and timber. I think it's a great reminder that this is an ever present risk for not just people in remote areas but urban areas on the east coast of Australia."

LifeFlight offers a free First Minutes Matter course, covering responses to emergencies like snake bites.

Dr MacKillop encouraged anybody to take up the course when it was offered in their community.

Tasked by Queensland Health, the LifeFlight SGAS helicopter and crew performed this mission as part of the SGAS partners' commitment to providing community aeromedical coverage.