Emergency callout earns rescue of the month award

 

JULIA WADE

Four local men have been bestowed with a national award due to their involvement in a recent dramatic sea res-cue which saw a young man came frighteningly close to losing a limb, and even his life.

Mangawhai Heads volunteer surf lifeguards Mike Ardern, Mark Ver-coe and Andrew Mum-ford along with St John paramedic Geoff Sim, earnt Mangawhai Heads Volunteer Lifeguard Service (MHVLS) a third place award in NZ Surf Lifesaving’s ‘BP Rescue of the Month’.

Announced in late February, MHVLS presi-dent Jon Draper says members are ‘all pretty stoked’ to be recognised.

“It was a horrific incident, could have been fatal, the St John flight medic Leah Baker said it was one of the worst she had ever seen,” he says.

“Naturally we’re also happy to learn the young man involved in the incident is now doing okay, that there has been a good outcome and that we could render aid.”

The rescue unfolded 5km off Mangawhai’s surf beach coastline around noon on January 17, when the 21 year old man, who was returning from a morning of fishing with three others, fell out of a small boat after being hit by a wave. His leg was then sliced open by the propeller when the boat ran over him.

On receiving the emergency callout, the three lifeguards and Sims, who was off-duty at the time and was spending the day on the beach with his chil-dren at the junior surf programme, rushed to the injured man’s aide. Sailors on a nearby yacht had also responded to the emergency call and had fastened themselves to the smaller vessel in an attempt to steady the boat in the choppy water.

On boarding, the life-guards removed the tem-porary tourniquet tied around the man’s leg, revealing an extremely deep cut. The limb came close to being amputated. Understandably the man had also lost a large quantity of blood.

Lead by Sims and Mumford – Mangawhai St John station manag-er and paramedic – the four men gave oxygen, attached an IV and se-cured the leg in a sturdy tourniquet while waiting for the Northland Rescue Helicopter.

The man was airlifted to Whangarei Hospital in a serious but stable condition Draper says, and is undergoing reha-bilitation ‘but apparently he’ll get back to normal’.

“This is what we train for, having a successful outcome on what we believe was a life-threat-ening call, the award is a great validation for us,” he says. “Think it’s just wonderful that the reason why Sims, an off-duty paramedic who just happened to be at the beach at the right time, was because he was there with his kids who were doing junior surf lifeguard training. A lot of things worked in favour that day.” 


Recognised nationally for their dramatic rescue and earning MHVLS $200 of BP vouchers; Mangawhai St John’s station manager and lifeguard Andrew Mumford, St John paramedic Geoff Sim, and Mangawhai Heads volunteer surf lifeguards Mark Vercoe and Mike Ardern. PHOTO/SUPPLIED