Aerocool rescue helicopter a lifesaver for BOP man trapped by forklift attachment

Paul Foote and his daughter Charlotte. Photo / Supplied

For Paul Foote, the day started like any other on June 16, 2021 at his busy waste and transport operation in Kawerau. Paul, an experienced mechanic, had been working on a forklift that had a fault with it. As he went to go tighten some bolts on the forklift, the big 700kg fork attachment suddenly came down towards him. Paul tried to move swiftly to get out of the fork attachment’s way, but as he did that, he tripped and fell back, landing with his legs out in front of him. The clamp came down on his legs and crushing his knees.

Being a methodical man, Paul calmly started the process in his mind of how to get out from under the attachment. Paul’s employees rushed to the scene and were able to put some pipes under the attachment and pull him out - they soon released the situation was critical. One of Paul’s employees (an ex-miner) quickly put a tourniquet on his thighs and the Kawerau ambulance, located only 600 metres from the site, was soon on the scene. Next to arrive was a second ambulance from Whakatāne. Stabilising Paul to transport him to the hospital was becoming increasingly time-critical. Paul’s accident had been labelled a status 1, which is an immediate life threat, and shortly afterwards the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter was called, landing in a park just minutes from the accident site.

When the crew arrived at the scene, they could see Paul was in critical condition and needed to be transported immediately. The original plan was to get him to Waikato Hospital’s ICU, but with Paul in the air, the experienced Aerocool crew along with Critical Care Flight Paramedic Flick - who was charged with working on him during the flight - could see they needed to make the crucial call to divert quickly to Tauranga Hospital. The rescue crew called Tauranga Hospital when they were 20 minutes out to let them know they would require blood products. A large trauma team was waiting for Paul when the helicopter arrived at the hospital.

“Dad owes his life to Flick, Todd and the crew on board the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter that day,” says Paul’s daughter Charlotte. Not knowing what she was going to face when she got to the hospital, Charlotte drove straight from her home in Cambridge to Tauranga Hospital, negotiating traffic to get as quickly to her dad’s bedside as possible.

“At one point I was so stuck in traffic I considered running the rest of the way to the hospital, I desperately wanted Dad to know I was coming.”

Paul had sustained massive crush injuries to his knees, which resulted in his right leg having to be amputated above the knee in a six-hour emergency surgery. Fortunately, Paul’s left leg is healing well. Paul spent a month in the hospital and a further three months in a wheelchair.

“Dad and I are just so grateful for not only the care and experience provided on the day, but for the follow-up when we were able to meet Flick two days later while Dad was still in ICU.

“Flick came to find him to make sure he was still alive and kicking, albeit with one less leg than when she’d met him two days prior. She is absolutely Dad’s hero, and he will forever be indebted to her for the lifesaving treatment she provided while in the air that day.”

Paul is now back at work as head mechanic and moving around the yard as best he can, using his prosthetic leg on a permanent basis. Although he is at a slightly limited capacity compared to how he was before his accident, he constantly tries to adapt and discover new solutions whenever something is particularly challenging. Due to the severity of the trauma his remaining leg suffered, its recovery is expected to take 18 months to two years. Nevertheless, he receives regular physiotherapy and performs all of the exercises to make sure his recovery keeps progressing.

“We will be forever grateful Dad could get to the hospital so quickly because of the rescue helicopter, and straight into theatre for treatment that ultimately saved his life. We were that close to losing him, Charlotte says.

“We can never put into words just how grateful we are, as a family, for those actions that Wednesday afternoon. Not only is he an amazing dad, but he’s the most wonderful husband, grandfather, brother, uncle, boss and friend; I’m so thankful to have met the chopper crew instead of the funeral director, it came that close.”