South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris is wary of the government's review that led to the rescue chopper staying in the region.
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The decision to keep the service at Albion Park and improve facilities to house medical staff where the chopper is hangared formed part of the NSW Health Department's Reform Plan for Aeromedical (Rotary Wing) Retrieval Services in NSW.
Mr Rorris, who along with other union officials was among those who fought to keep the chopper based at Albion Park, said he still had some concerns about the detail in the reform plan.
"I think the idea of a full public funded service as we currently have has worked," Mr Rorris said.
"We are heartened and relieved by the fact that the government, responding to the pressure from unions and the community, has kept it there.
"We welcome the decision to keep the chopper here but, in terms of the review itself, once bitten twice shy.
"This was the same crowd that wanted to take the chopper off us, so I guess we would be naive not to look at the devil in the detail. And there is a lot of detail missing in what's been announced."
Mr Rorris said there was concern about the clarity of the tendering for a 10-year contract to supply the service and whether plans to streamline the types of helicopters in the fleet also meant reducing their overall numbers.
There was also the issue that the department would still be looking to save money.
"They say they're going to save money," he said.
"On the one hand they're putting in money to build up bases and on the other they're going to make savings. I'd like to know where that will be because it's not immediately apparent."
President of Wollongong Rotary Club Leigh Robinson said his club was one of several that organised a petition to keep the chopper.
"There's a bit of history here with Rotary Club," Mr Robinson said.
"Phil Buckland, a previous president of Wollongong Rotary, mounted a campaign to get this chopper here. Phil made it happen.
"So when the announcement went up that they were going to take it away, some of the members here said 'You've got to get on this and fix it up'."
Having helped "fix it up", Mr Robinson is pleased the rescue helicopter is staying at Albion Park.
"We can all rest easier that, if something untoward were to happen to one of us, that there's a facility here that will give us a greater chance of survival," he said.
"If we're injured or are critically ill, having that chopper here just might save our lives. That goes for every one of us."
For Shellharbour MP Anna Watson it was "people power" that won the battle.
"The location of the medical helicopter should never have been in any doubt," she said.
"NSW Department of Health bureaucrats need to now stop playing games with the medical helicopter and accept that it will be located at the Illawarra Regional Airport.
"There now should be no more reports or recommendations from bureaucrats seeking to remove the asset from the region."
