In lieu of our regular Tuesday meeting last week many of us attended the Tawa Rotary Business breakfast held on Wednesday morning 22nd August. We had some 50 registrations. Our thanks to the Tawa Business Group who helped with some costs and marketing to co-host this event.
The speaker was David Greenberg, former Wellington Life Flight Trust rescue helicopter air crew. David recounted some insight into his life as a veteran Westpac Rescue Helicopter crewman who for 25-years dangled by a winch as a rescuer to pluck people from seas, ravines, and paddocks, part of nearly 4000 rescue operations.
David grew up in New York and came to NZ in 1990. Soon afterwards he obtained the job of crewman on the Wellington Westpac rescue helicopter and where for the next 25 years he was happiest when dangling on the end of a winch rope beneath the helicopter.
David described in more detail one of the most prominent rescues that stood out for him which occurred in 2010 when he was involved in the search and rescue of a crashed Army chopper on Anzac Day near the coast at Pukerua Bay. 
David related his learning of emergency rescue to business using the Acronym TRUST. Only through TRUST was he able to succeed in what he did and achieved. What are the TRUST issues in your business? Where:
T = Training
R = Resources
U = U (Yourself)
S = Systems
T = Team
Since leaving Life Education Trust in 2014, David has written a book about his career, written with freelance writer Adrienne Kohler, entitled Emergency Response: Life, Death and Helicopters, which depicts the various missions that affected David the most on and off the Westpac Rescue Helicopter. It covers his journey and teases his next chapter in life, taking advantage of opportunities, and shows the significance of one of New Zealand's most important medical care services. "I think people in New Zealand love rescue helicopters and love what we do, and I don't see this story as my story but one of the team's I worked with. I wouldn't have got anywhere without the rest of the team." David can be contacted about his book at rescuedave@gmail.com.
A brief update was also provided on the Spring into Tawa event by Stacey Richardson, who is also an upcoming club speaker.
