Tom's a real hero
DELWYN DICKEY
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HIGHWAY maintenance contractor Tom Mitchell's quick action saved a woman's life after a crash on State Highway 1 south of the Dome Valley in March.
Mr Mitchell of Kaukapakapa was awarded the Beaurepaires' Highway Heroes award for his efforts at a surprise gathering last Friday at Warkworth after being nominated by co-worker Mark Logan.
Highway maintenance contractors are a familiar sight on main highways throughout the country.
They're the guys who, among other things, put out the orange cones and clean up the mess after slips, fallen trees and road crashes. While they're used to seeing the end results of road accidents, they're not so used to being involved at the start.
Early on Tuesday, March 16, Transfield Services roading construction crew driver and foreman Mr Mitchell and work companion Mark Logan were returning to their Goatley Rd depot just north of Warkworth when they came across a car accident. The car had left the road and was imbedded in a tree. The air bag hadn't inflated and the woman driver was slumped over the wheel.
Two other motorists had already stopped and were calling emergency services. While Mr Logan grabbed a fire extinguisher out of the truck in case the smoking car caught alight, Mr Mitchell checked the driver.
Mr Logan was surprised to then see his companion immediately climb into the car behind the woman, lift her head up and back and hold it there.
"I could tell as soon as I saw her that she was in trouble," says Mr Mitchell.
"The sound she was making told me her airway had been compromised and she wasn't breathing."
He was also worried she might have a spinal injury. Within a minute the woman was breathing again. Mr Mitchell asked for a helicopter because of the nature of her injuries. Within 10 minutes the woman was regaining consciousness, says Mr Mitchell.
He had to hold her more firmly as she started to struggle while ambulance staff worked on her, only letting go 20 minutes after climbing into the car when ambulance officers were able to put on a neck brace.
"We all have to do first aid training but I've never had to confront an injured person before on the job," Mr Logan says.
"Seeing Tom with this woman made me realise how much knowledge we lacked. I wouldn't have recognised a blocked airway like that. She would have died if it hadn't been for him."
The crash saw Mr Mitchell's training as an ambulance officer and paramedic of 14 years kick in. But he hadn't worked with the service for six years.
"Climbing into the back of that car was like coming home for me," he says.
As was giving the run-down on the woman's condition to Barry Watkins, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter advanced paramedic who travelled with the woman to hospital.
The experience left Mr Logan "rattled", so he was a bit taken aback when Mr Mitchell simply said, "Ah well, let's get back to work" as he watched the helicopter fly off.
Mr Logan says later that day Mr Mitchell received a call from the head of the Auckland Hospital trauma unit congratulating him on saving the woman's life.
Mr Mitchell admits the ambulance service is his first love, but he went back to trucking, a job he had also enjoyed, seeking a more routine life.
"I was getting on, and the constant day and night shifts had been hard on my wife. But it is like a bug – it gets in your system."
Driving trucks since he was 18, Mr Mitchell joined the Silverdale ambulance service at 36.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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