Flight nurse Hamish Hardy nurse has clocked up 1000 patient transfers in double quick time - in just five busy years aboard the Taranaki Air Ambulance .
Hamish Hardy reached the milestone of 1000 patient transfers in just five busy years aboard the Taranaki Air Ambulance. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Hardy reached the milestone in more than twice as fast of some of his more experienced colleagues.
A former patient says he'll always be a hero to him.
Hardy splits his working hours between the Taranaki Base Hospital's intensive care ward and the cabin of a twin turboprop Beechcraft King Air C90.
"It's a cramped workspace. It's got some interesting dynamics with getting equipment and patients in especially larger patients who aren't able to walk onto the aircraft.
"So, they're loaded onto a stretcher outside the aircraft and then loaded in already on the aircraft stretcher.
"It can get pretty cramped and hot and rough in different weather conditions."
Even so, it was still his happy place.
"I love flying, so to get a job that combines my nursing career and flying it's been great. It's the prefect job for me.
"It's got a lot of challenges with being in the air alone with patients who could be potentially unstable but that's why we do the job.
"It's the challenges and the rewards you get from it that keeps you coming to work every day."
Hardy said it had been a privilege to serve all his patients, but one stood out - Grant Barnett - whom he had got to know while he waited for a liver transplant.
Hamish Hardy and former patient Grant Barnett. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
He said one night in 2017 Barnett's daughter ran up to him in ICU in tears.
"I got a bit a worried there for a minute when she came running up to me, but she said that they had just got the phone call that he had a liver in Auckland but had to get there as soon as possible.
"So, I ended not working in ICU that night and arranged to get the plane and pilot organised and got him up to Auckland a couple of hours later."
Grant Barnett, now 62 and back at work, had never forgotten it.
He said Hardy had been true to his word.
"He always said 'hey if you go to Auckland for your transplant, Grant, I want to be the one that takes you up'.
"So, it just ended up that that evening that Hamish happened to be coming on shift and, hey, Hamish just organised everything from there and he got us to Auckland and as I say he's a hero to me."
"I consider Hamish as a hero to me, so much so that I'd say he's a part of my family because perhaps if it wasn't for Hamish I wouldn't be here today, so yeah he means a lot to me."
He said Hardy had been true to his word.
Taranaki Air Ambulance flight coordinator Kim Batten Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Taranaki has operated some kind of air ambulance since the 1960s, but the Taranaki District Health Board has only had a dedicated aircraft and team of flight nurses since 2004.
In a typical year, the Air Ambulance transfers between 600 and 700 patients all around the country - about half of them cardiac patients headed to Waikato Hospital for specialist care.
Flight coordinator Kim Batten said demand for the service was growing all the time.
"We're increasing our flight numbers by at least 10 percent a year - so 10 years ago we were down in the 400s for our flight team.
"There are days when we definitely need two planes or possibly even three."
He said it took a unique person to be a flight nurse and Hamish fitted the bill.
"You've got to be a special kind of person to sit in a plane with someone knowing you're the only pair of hands that they've got.
There's no one to hold your hand if something goes wrong. You're it and it's a bit claustrophobic I would gather."
Skyline Aviation and pilot Eloise Campbell. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Skyline Aviation operates the plane, and pilot Eloise Campbell has flown alongside Hardy for three years.
"Something I notice about Hamish is that he has a great empathy. He can always relate to a patient, so he's really great a keeping someone calm that's nervous about flying or something about their health.
Barnett said Hardy's milestone was a reminder how essential the service was to Taranaki.
"Take my situation if it was for that, hey, I probably wouldn't be standing here today. It's as simple as that."
The Taranaki Air Ambulance is run in collaboration between a Trust of the same name and the district health board. It costs between $1.5 million and $2m a year to run.