WHEREVER YOU ARE, WE’LL GET HELP TO YOU
St John staff played a vital part in the rescue of a caver from the Middle Earth cave system, below Takaka Hill, in August 2007. The patient had fallen and received serious injuries, which required a long, slow operation to carefully carry him from the cave system.
St John paramedics Jon Leach, Ian Black, and Blair Andrews each took shifts in the cave system, after the accident occurred on the evening of Saturday 25 August. St John Ambulance Communications Centre staff were alerted to the incident on Sunday morning, after one of the patient’s fellow cavers had climbed out and raised the alarm.
The incident was co-ordinated by Search and Rescue and the Police, with St John staff providing round-the-clock emergency clinical cover. St John Nelson Team manager Gary Tobin liaised with Police and Search and Rescue staff during the rescue. He also accompanied the patient to Nelson Hospital in the Summit Rescue Helicopter, after the patient was brought out of the cave system by rescuers. The helicopter was dispatched by the St John Ambulance Communications Centre.
Throughout the rescue, St John Ambulance Communications Centre staff in Christchurch were in contact with local police and Search and Rescue staff, and were responsible for alerting a local PRIME doctor from Murchison, who also attended. PRIME doctors and nurses are dispatched by Ambulance Communications Centres and trained by St John to assist ambulance services at emergency scenes.
