Barbara Jenks, Rotorua Mountain bike Club

The funding we received from Toi Ohomai Charity House Project was extremely beneficial to the Rotorua Mountain Bike Club First Response Unit.  

The $8000 we were given went towards funding penthrox which is administered to people who have had serious injuries in the forest, by our medics to relieve pain. The funding we received was greatly appreciated.  

The First Response Unit is an existing, ongoing project which is seen as an essential part of the emergency response in the forest. It is now a professional service which operates seven days a week with mid-week being an on-call service.  Rotorua Mountain Bike Club funding from ACC was discontinued so the Club now has to find the full $140,000 a year required to keep the service running.  

Part of the service the First Response Unit offers to injured people is the provision of an anaesthetic called penthrox to those in pain who may require it.  This is particularly important for the seriously injured who have to be extracted from the forest to an ambulance or helicopter. 

Each use of penthrox costs the service $80 a unit, which per year works out at about $5000.   

The provision of penthrox where necessary to provide pain relief to an injured patient is an important part of the service the FRU provides and is a significant part of a successful outcome for the rescued. 

Detailed data is collected for every patient the Peak Safety medics respond to.  The data is collected, recorded, graphed and analysed for each callout to identify trends and inform future interventions such as track design, rider education and improving rider skills. 
 
- Barbara Jenks, Rotorua Mountain bike Club