The drivers at Hautapu Haulage move logs for a living. Their days are spent behind the wheel of big logging trucks, and the job is about getting the load from A to B safely. But over the past couple of years, three of them have also found themselves first on the scene when someone else's day went badly wrong.
Pop, Joe and Richie each stepped in with first aid before help arrived. This month, when the team sat their latest refresher course, MediTrain was proud to recognise all three with a First Responders Award.
More than 20 years of training together
Sandy is MediTrain's first aid instructor on the Central Plateau, and Hautapu Haulage has trained with her for as long as she has been with MediTrain, which is now more than 20 years. The team of around 23 started with the workplace first aid course and now does a refresher every two years, so their skills stay current and their certificates stay valid.
Sandy knows exactly what her trainees could face out on the road. "So these guys aren't dealing with little plasters, they're dealing with big stuff," she says.
Pop: first on the scene of a serious crash
Pop was one of the first people to reach a serious motorbike crash. The rider had a severe leg injury and was losing a lot of blood. Pop applied a pressure tourniquet to control the bleeding and placed him in the recovery position until emergency services took over.
"Had he not got there, that person would have passed away," Sandy says. The rider has since made a good recovery.
Joe: a colleague unconscious in the yard
Joe arrived at the yard to find a fellow driver unconscious. He placed the driver in the recovery position to protect their airway and made sure help was on the way, exactly as he had been trained to do.
Richie: stopping for a fellow truckie
Just a few weeks before the refresher, Richie saw another truck driver slip as he climbed down from his truck and hit his head hard. Richie was heading in the other direction, but he pulled over and was first on the scene.
The driver had a serious head injury. Richie called for help, controlled the bleeding, kept the driver's airway clear and placed him in the recovery position. Without that, Sandy says, the driver could easily have choked on his own blood before the ambulance arrived.
When the training kicks in
For Sandy, these stories show what good training is really for. "When I'm training them, like you're training them what to do, and then it just kicks in, bang, like that," she says.
It isn't only the hands-on skills. She points to the calmness and reassurance her trainees bring to a scene, and their ability to manage bystanders and members of the public who want to help but sometimes get in the way. All of it comes down to keeping someone alive until the ambulance gets there.
Hautapu Haulage put it well when they shared the news with their own community. Being a truck driver, they wrote, is about much more than getting from A to B. It's about looking out for one another. In a world full of health and safety rules and compliance training, it's great to see that "when it matters the default setting works."
A place on the wall of fame
When MediTrain hears that someone has used their training to save a life or make a real difference, we present them with a First Responders Award. Sandy makes a point of celebrating every one, and the awards earn a place on the wall of fame in her Taumarunui training room.
"It's important that we acknowledge these guys, you know, that are out there doing this stuff on the side of the road," she says.
After more than two decades, Sandy is still out there training, and still loving it. "To me, it's not a job, it's a passion."
Congratulations, Pop, Joe and Richie, and thank you to the whole Hautapu Haulage team for looking out for others.
Is your team ready?
If you have eight or more people to train, MediTrain can bring the course to your workplace. Start with our Comprehensive Workplace First Aid course, and keep your team's skills sharp with a first aid refresher every two years, before certificates expire.
Find out about onsite training for your team
