About us

When Hamish Choat first moved to Masterton four years ago he joined Amalgamated Helicopters New Zealand as a crewman. Whilst the majority of his work was for the agriculture sector, forestry and local councils, Hamish and the team would regularly be called in to help with Search and Rescue, Police, Fire and Ambulance.

When helping with emergency calls Hamish would be in small single engine helicopter; just one pilot and one crew member. They didn’t have the capacity to carry extra crew in the form of a fire officers or paramedics.  Hamish and his crew mates were all first aid trained but in the event of something more serious they wouldn’t necessarily have the skills to deal with it without emergency service back up. Hamish says ‘the team started doing a fair bit of work for the Rescue Coordinator Centre and NZ Police. We had 3 or 4 jobs in a fairly close time frame and I figured if I was better trained in what to do in a medical emergency it might be helpful.”

Hamish joined the volunteer event medic team at Wellington Free in September 2014. Since then he’s regularly volunteered with the frontline ambulance crew in the Wairarapa. “As a volunteer I don’t have a permanent seat, but I’ll do at least one shift a month. Sometimes 3-4 per week depending on how busy they are. Usually I’m covering sickness or leave, it really depends on the roster but I’m pretty used to Friday nights or Sunday days” he says.

With a full time job to keep up with too, Hamish says the flexibility of helping when you can fits in well with his schedule. “I don’t have a set shift for the frontline and if I can shuffle things around in my personal life to help out I will. I can be pretty flexible so it works quite well, and I have a very understanding wife too!” he says.

Normally Hamish joins the Greytown or Masterton crew so there isn’t many staff in the Wairarapa he hasn’t worked with. “You pick up the best from everyone and find your own style of doing things” he says.

When asked why volunteering is important to him Hamish says “it might sound like an absolute cliché but I like helping people.  If someone is having an atrocious day I want to be there to help. You get good jobs from a learning point of view and you good jobs from an emotional ‘I really helped someone day’ point of view. And that’s why I volunteer.”

When thinking about the stand out moments Hamish recalls an incident earlier this year when he was on a trip in Northland. He was first on scene to motor vehicle accident and was able to do an initial patient assessment before the St John Ambulance crew arrived.  When the team got there the paramedic on scene was able to treat the most severely injured while Hamish looked after the other two patients involved in the incident. “In the end I drove the ambulance to hospital so the paramedic could stay in the back of the vehicle and look after the patient. To be able to put my skills into practice, even on a day off, was a real moment for me” says Hamish.

Wellington Free has 80 qualified volunteers completing around 1000 hours per month. They offer medical cover at community events, volunteer on the frontline in the emergency ambulance service, act as community first responders in more rural areas and offer training with the Heartbeat programme. To volunteer with Wellington Free it takes extraordinary effort; commitment, tenacity and resilience. If you’re interested in joining Hamish and the volunteer team visit our website or email [email protected] for more information.