When a Pukekohe woman was crushed by a 300kg bottlenose dolphin that landed on her while she was out boating off the Coromandel, her life hung in the balance. With fractured vertebrae, all of her ribs broken, her pelvis cracked in four places and with two collapsed lungs it’s hard to believe that she could have survived. In truth the woman’s chances of surviving such catastrophic injuries if she hadn’t received expert emergency treatment quickly would have been slim, at best.

When Advanced Paramedic Chris Deacon arrived with the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, his emergency training and experience enabled him to stabilize the critically injured woman and then maintain her condition on the airlift to Auckland Hospital, where she was transferred into the intensive care unit. While the recovery from her substantial injuries will be slow, the long-term outcome is looking good. Without Chris and his crew this story might have had a very different ending. 

Picture right: Advanced Paramedic Chris Deacon

And while this is one of the more unusual cases that Chris has dealt with, his role as a paramedic with the Westpac Rescue Helicopter service means that having to make emergency medical decisions, often in awkward or hazardous situations many kilometres from the nearest hospital, is part of the job.  

The specific service that paramedics provide is one of treating injured people and saving lives ‘in the field’, ready for more specialist care which will come later from hospital doctors and nurses.

Based in Mechanics Bay, on Auckland’s waterfront, the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust — which runs the Westpac Rescue Helicopter operation — covers an enormous area and can be called out to emergencies anywhere from Whangarei to Hamilton and beyond. The types of jobs vary enormously, with summer being the busy period with many more people being out on the water, at the beach or involved with outdoor sports like motocross or horsing events. Road smashes make up a big portion of the jobs but beach rescues, winching injured people off fishing boats, tractor injuries on farms, motorbike and ATV crashes on farms but also at

Picture / Delwyn Dickey

motocross events or on beaches, forestry mishaps and others all make up the workload.

Being able to quickly reach remote and hard-to-reach spots and return at speed above roads, farmland and bush is a huge advantage when dealing with seriously hurt people as the length of time it takes to reach specialist care at a hospital can literally make the difference between life and death.

While he has seen some pretty horrific injuries in his 15 years working with the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, Chris points out that paramedics are trained health professionals and, while he doesn’t turn off to what he sees, he can’t afford to become emotionally entangled with each patient as he would quickly end up an emotional wreck. So, while feeling empathy for the people he is helping he is still able to view their injuries clinically and see, for instance, that while there might be a lot of blood it is from a relatively small cut which is not life threatening, or that a broken leg is simply a broken leg and again not life threatening even though it might be incredibly painful for the patient.

Chris feels dealing with hurt children is probably the hardest part of the job and here he has to be especially understanding of the parents, who may be more traumatised than their hurt child. He is honest about their child’s injuries but supportive as well. The fact that their child is actually being treated and will be at the hospital quickly helps parents to cope, as well as usually being able to go with them in the helicopter. Except in situations where there are weight issues or there is a danger to the crew or the helicopter itself, such as when there has been a road crash and other people at the site may be drunk and acting obnoxiously, Chris likes someone to come on board with patients to comfort and reassure them.

But, in spite of his training, there are some cases that have left their mark on him, and he still remembers vividly, even after 15 years, the complete and utter emotional agony of a woman whose seriously injured baby he had to treat after she’d accidentally backed over the infant in her car.

Chris Deacon didn’t have a childhood ambition to become a paramedic. In fact, when he left school he trained as a carpenter — skills he still uses today with his passion for renovating his home. He also trained as a diving instructor, loves hiking, and is an active member of the Muriwai Surf Life Saving Club. All of these skills have helped in his job with the rescue helicopter where he needs strength and dexterity with his hands, is often working in the water in rough seas, and needs a good level of fitness. 

In spite of the fact that Chris has a lot to do with children within the organisation, with promotions to schools and visits to the base by school parties, there is some irony that while many of the boys especially see him as a positive male role model, Chris grew up without a strong male influence in his life after his father died when he was two years old. Chris was raised by his mother and went to Dilworth Boarding School. Chris is adamant that the first major male in his life — his first boss showed him how not to act as a man. All things considered Chris seems to have figured it out for himself!

Chris has strong views on education and feels that people do their children a great disservice by not encouraging them to do well at school. He feels that no matter what line they go into, being a well-rounded and well-educated individual will raise them above the ordinary. A keen sportsman, a quote from All Black coach Graham Henry really appeals to him, “Better people make better All Blacks.” 

Many of society's problems, he feels, like crime, unemployment and even hospital waiting lists, could be solved, not by handing out money for more police but by spending money on more teachers and providing education that is truly free.

Chris Deacon and the other crew and support members at the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, and the other rescue helicopter bases around the country, do an amazing job and fully deserve our respect, our gratitude and our support. These operations are funded solely by sponsorship and donations.

You can help by:

• Texting DONATE to 4483 to make an instant $3 donation.

• Phoning 0900 4CHOPPER (0900 424 67737) to make a $20 donation.

Your donation will go to your local rescue helicopter.