A f irst class hero! Postie who’s saved hundreds of people’s lives
Part-time medic honoured
FOR 24 years, he’s been a familiar face around his home town, delivering letters and parcels.
But Craig Lusk, 48, is much more than just a postman.
He’s also a volunteer first responder for the ambulance service – and over the past decade has saved hundreds of lives.
Now he is being honoured for his work in a new TV show paying tribute to Scotland’s greatest unsung heroes.
Mr Lusk has spoken about the surprised reaction he gets when he arrives at emergency call-outs in his postie’s uniform.
He also revealed the joy of helping to save lives – as well as the heartache of having patients die in his arms.
‘I don’t do this to be a hero. I do it because I love Peebles and want to help people,’ he said.
He joined the community first responders ten years ago and is sometimes on call for 50 hours a week on top of his full-time Royal Mail job. Fully trained and armed with oxygen and defibrillator equipment, first responders are on call to provide emergency aid until an ambulance can get there.
‘There was an incident a couple of weeks ago when everyone was like, “My God, it’s a postman arriving here”,’ Mr Lusk said.
He is such a devoted volunteer that he was also the first one to put his hand up for Covid duty, and he has saved more than a dozen lives during the pandemic.
Mr Lusk loves his volunteer duties, but described the pain of losing a patient as ‘horrible’.
‘One time I was talking away to a woman thinking she was fine and the next minute, thump, she fell off the bed and she was gone,’ he said.
He was also on the scene recently when a dad suffered horrific injuries mountain biking in the hills near Peebles. Dave Turpin sustained a punctured lung, five broken ribs and concussion.
His wife Tracey Turpin appears in new BBC show Scotland’s People to pay tribute to Mr Lusk and said: ‘Craig arrived and came running over with his PPE on, and Dave was a bit muddled because he had landed on his head but really took notice of Craig.
‘Craig said he must lie still, you need to stay where you are because you’ve had quite a big fall, and then he stopped trying to get up.’
Mr Lusk added: ‘I’m just a cog in the machine trying to save people and get there first.
‘If I’ve gone to a cardiac arrest and I know that person has made it and is still walking around and can see his family and his kids, being involved in keeping that person going in that golden hour is a magic feeling.’
The humble Scot was bowled over when he was nominated for Scotland’s People, honouring unsung heroes across the country.
In tonight’s programme, presenter Jackie Bird surprised him with a group of his colleagues gathering to pay tribute to his selfless duty to his home town.
‘I was very close to tears, it was hard to hold myself together,’ Mr Lusk said.
Jackie Bird said: ‘If any one person sums up the spirit of Scotland’s People it’s Luskie and his 24-hour, seven-day-a-week dedication to simply helping others.’
Scotland’s People 2021: A Thank You will be shown on BBC One Scotland at 5.45pm tonight and on BBC Scotland at 8pm tonight.