- Thursday 9 September 2010
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'Invaluable' rescue means Scott's returning to work
Sheep-manure excavator Scott Newman reunited with Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter Service advanced paramedic Lindsay Cunliffe three months after Mr Newman suffered multiple pelvic fractures while pinned between his machinery and the floor of an Elsthor
Badly injured in a bizarre mishap which pinned him between his digger and an Elsthorpe woolshed floor, contractor Scott Newman feared the worst.
The prospect of working again was far from his mind. Survival was uppermost.
But, just three months later, on two crutches, with multiple pelvic fractures pinned together by three titanium pins, he's looking forward to being on the job again sometime in May.
And yesterday, he travelled from home in Feilding to Hastings to meet his rescuers. "If I hadn't had the Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter Service the outcome might have been a lot different," he said. "It was invaluable. Absolutely invaluable."
He says he knew, trapped with multiple pelvic fractures and hydraulics burning across his abdomen and having driven the winding country road to Edenham Station earlier in the day, he wouldn't be going anywhere by ambulance, and there was only one way out.
He had always been aware of the value of the rescue services.
Almost since the day he started shovelling manure for a living over five years ago he's been a financial member of the rescue helicopter trust in Manawatu. He has the supporter's card in his wallet and gets a "sticker," but it's knowing the service is available that counts.
His return to Hastings yesterday came as the Lowe Corporation is about to launch its annual appeal focusing on the rural sector, which figures highly in annual statistics.
Trust marketing and fundraising manager Louise Harvey said 65 per cent of costs relied upon sponsorship and other donations, and added: "The Trust really does need the support of the community to operate the vital service."
Mr Newman, whose wife Lyn says has constantly been thinking of ways to make his unique job safer, was at the time of the tragedy thinking only of two things - how he would get back to work, and, nodding towards his wife and two-year-old son: "Lyn and the little guy."
