Over the weekend at He Pō Whakangahau - A Night of Entertainment in the Grand Ballroom at Parliament, Dr Lindsay Mildenhall was recognised by his peers and awarded with the highest award in resuscitation, the Sir David Hay Medal. 

Since 1999 The Sir David Hay Medal has been awarded to recognise an outstanding or lifelong contribution to resuscitation and emergency care in Aotearoa, New Zealand. The Sir David Hay Medal awardee is nominated by your peers and awarded at the discretion of the New Zealand Resuscitation Council. You join only six other recipients of this award; Dr Peter Leslie, Dr Denholm Crone, Dr Duncan Galletly, Dr Shirley Tonkin, Dr Andy Swain and Dr Richard Aickin.

Sir David Russell Hay CBE (8 December 1927 – 3 December 2016) was a New Zealand cardiologist and anti-smoking campaigner. He was also a clinical academic at the University of Otago, Christchurch School of Medicine, from 1973 to 1988. He was a long-time campaigner against smoking and the tobacco industry in his role as inaugural medical director of the New Zealand Heart Foundation (1977–92). In 1999 Sir David retired from the New Zealand Heart Foundation after 30 years, having served as its president from 1996 to 1999.

Lindsay has made contributions to the fraternity of resuscitation since 1999, notably through service to the New Zealand Resuscitation Council. His passion for improving outcomes for babies, his knowledge, and expertise has made his influence wide reaching and has been to the benefit of New Zealand.

In 1975 Lindsay completed a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring on psychology, and achieved first class honours, he went on to complete his fellowship at Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne. As a Consultant Neonatologist and Clinical Head of the Kidz First's Neonatal Intensive and Special Care Service at Middlemore Hospital from 1998, the Unit introduced nasopharyngeal CPAP and expanded twice during his tenure.

Lindsay has been a representative on the Australia New Zealand Committee on Resuscitation (ANZCOR), and spent 13 years on the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR). Along with his research interests in Neonatal Echocardiography, Lindsay has been a significant researcher and contributor to ILCOR as a worksheet author for the 2010 review, and a Topic Co-Chair from 2015-2020. He has co-authored more than 40 publications including one supporting an encircling technique for newborn chest compressions. The work that Lindsay has contributed to ILCOR has supported recommendations adapted for use as resuscitation guidelines in Australasia and around the world. 

Dr Mildenhall has played a leading role in developing the Newborn Life Support (NLS) course, the New Zealand programme for teaching newborn resuscitation skills to doctors, nurses and midwives.

In 2022, being created an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to Neonatal Intensive Care and resuscitation training, was further recognition of his profound and long lasting impact on whanau and tamariki in New Zealand.

Lindsay, thank you for improving outcomes for all people in Aotearoa and the countless lives that have been saved by your work.