Worker has time for car

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 228, 26 January 1988, Page 16

Worker has time for car

Having a disability is no handicap to Ohakune man Andrew McFarlane. For the last 15 years he has proved that having an artificial arm does not impair his ability to work. Mr McFarlane was made redundant from Combined Logging in December due to a drop in work and for the first time in his life found himself unemployed. Andrew worked for his father in the family's logging business at Karioi for eight years, drivirig logging trucks, loaders and cross-cutting trees. He also worked freelance for a time as a truck driver with a Raetihi company. Since being laid off he has found work as a relief tractor and tedding machine driver on a farm in Raetihi. He was 15 years old,

straight out of school and working with a logging gang in Te Awamutu when his right arm was crushed beyond repair when a boom suspended from a crane slipped. Andrew had been with the crew for only one month. The next three months he spent recovering in hospital and later at a centre in Auckland where he learned how to use his prosthesis. After becoming adept at using the limb, just months* after the accident, he worked as a driver and storeman for a bottle company in Tokoroa and later for the Tokoroa Borough Council. He also spent some time with the Matamata County Council be- . fore moving to the Waimarino to work in the family business. Far from being limited by his disability, Andrew said he is able to do everything

as before, with the exception of sports such as tennis, softball and cricket that require grasping. His left arm is very strong from continuous use. Being naturally arnbidextrous, Andrew said it took only a little practice with his left hand before he could write with proficiency. His interest in trucks and machinery stems from childhood. While out of work he has spent his time restoring a 1938 Plymouth and is keen to eventually start a car club in the Waimarino. He has held his heavy traffic licence for the last eight years and in that time has driven everything from logging trucks to bulldozers. Andrew is keen to secure a job in the Waimarino and said "he doesn't want to have to leave the district to find- work.