Home for Tea, Waikato Hospital for Supper

lachlan967
7 days ago
2 min read

When Mark Shirreffs picked up the phone at dinner time on the evening of Wednesday 9th October, he had no way of knowing he would be enroute to Waikato Hospital within a matter of hours.

Mark, 51, who was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in September, wasn’t expecting the phone to ring that night. On the other end of the line was a respiratory specialist from Taranaki Base Hospital, who informed him based on recent CT scans, he had a collapsed right lung and was in urgent need of medical care. Mark was quickly brought to the emergency department, where it was decided that he was to be transferred to Waikato Hospital for urgent surgery on his collapsed lung. As it was already one o’clock in the morning, the flight would have to be made solely using night vision equipment and radar, and kept at a low altitude to maintain Mark’s stable condition. “I was awake during the flight, and I was in quite a lot of pain.” Despite a lot to worry about, Mark knew the Taranaki’s helicopter crew had it under control. “I was impressed at how well they did – they made sure I was stable all the way up to Waikato. To fly in pitch black to get to where they need to go, that’s such an amazing thing.” The flight was completed, and Mark was delivered to Waikato Hospital a short time later, where he received the medical care needed. Had his condition taken a turn mid-flight, Taranaki Critical Care Paramedic Mitch told Mark that they would have to perform the insertion of a lung stent mid-air. Now home from hospital, Mark is recovering from his operation. He’s spending his time tending to his garden. “I’m doing gardening to keep myself active. I can’t work for the foreseeable future.” Mark said he may need to use the helicopter’s services again in the near future, and so knows that supporting the helicopter is absolutely critical, now and in the future. “We’re on a flight path in our suburb of Hurdon, and quite often you see them fly over. It’s an amazing service.”