Jeff Hughes feels lucky to call Nelson home and feels like his job on the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter has helped him become a part of the community, and a valuable one at that.
Speaking to the Nelson App as part of the NBS Rescue Helicopter Appeal, Jeff knows all too well the importance of the funds that will be raised through the community during October.
Californian-born Jeff has been a paramedic in some form throughout the U.S and other parts of the world for more than 20 years before arriving in Nelson and taking up a dual-role as crewman/critical care paramedic.
With a wealth of experience under his belt, working on ambulances, in the military, for one of the 10 richest families in the world on their superyacht, he has even been posted to the presidential motorcade protecting former US President Barack Obama in Hawaii.
However, Jeff, his fiancée, and young daughter now call Stoke home.
Jeff says, while he never had a pivotal childhood moment that pushed him into medicine, as a lad he always had a strong desire to want to be involved with the emergency services. Working a 24-hour shift from 6pm for the rescue helicopter, life can be a little hectic, and sometimes tiring, but the close-knit team are always there when needed.
“We will do a mountain top side rescue, and then immediately after that roll into a critical level emergency interfacility transport, taking a stroke victim to Christchurch to get clot retrieval so that they can hopefully have their event reversed, to then getting a tramper who’s broken their ankle and is a couple days away in agonising pain, they could probably make it out, but they’re going to be uncomfortable.”
He says one of the greatest parts of the job is that it’s so varied.
“We generally don’t go home feeling poorly, you feel pretty good about yourself, even on heavy calls you know ‘I did the best I could for that person’… it makes you feel privileged to be a part of that.”
Jeff’s is a unique dual role, having both the skillset to operate the winch and manage safety aspects of a moving helicopter, and the medical expertise to fulfil the critical care paramedic role, he switches hats depending on the shift.
He says the readiness to use the rescue helicopter to help anyone who needs it is very different to places like the U.S.
“There, it’s quite expensive, there’s insurance involved, and government officials have red tape to cut to even let the thing get loose. Here, we’re off and running in 10 minutes max. We got off the ground yesterday four minutes after an alert. We’re literally coiled springs ready to go.”
Jeff says community donations and the NBS Chopper Appeal help the team stay up to date with the latest equipment.
Two pieces of equipment have recently been upgraded to industry-leading versions – the monitor defibrillator and the CPR machine, which speak to each other via Bluetooth to enable continuous CPR.
“The CPR machine only interrupts compressions long enough to deliver a defibrillator shock, which means that the effectiveness of the CPR never really stops,” he says of the life-saving equipment which removes any form of human delay.
“Everything that the emergency department can do or will do for the first instance of care, outside of direct imaging by X ray and CT scan, we can do in the back of the helicopter, it’s pretty impressive.
“So, we can use surgical level anaesthesia and paralyze you, put a tube in and put you on a ventilator, we can breathe for you, we can deliver all the same medicines, we can counteract the clot-forming aspects of a heart attack. We can deliver that sort of point of care at an extremely high level in an extreme rescue environment.”
But, that type of care, comes with a cost, and NMRHT manager Paula Muddle urges people to jump on board with fundraising throughout the month of October.
“We are so grateful to NBS, local businesses and community members for their unwavering commitment to the rescue helicopter. The rust requires ongoing funding to keep our crew working at the top of their game, which is often in rugged terrain, to ensure they operate a world-class service for our community,” Paula says.
NBS is a major sponsor of the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter and hosts the annual appeal so that communities have the chance to get involved and give back. Go here for more information and to donate.
