Facilities worker’s flat repair saves day

Danny Muasau changed his first automobile flat tire when he was in second grade.

Muasau’s father taught him the skill so he could help out when dad was deployed by the U.S. Air Force. It’s a lesson Muasau applies today to help motorists stranded at UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central on account of a flat tire, dead battery or failing fuel pump.

More than 10 times in the 3½ years he’s worked for UCHealth as a facilities supervisor, Muasau has helped stranded motorists. Patients, visitors and fellow employees have all benefited from the expertise gained from his work on nuclear propulsion systems in the Navy, as a hardware store manager, or in his current position helping maintain a 413-bed hospital.

In the Navy for a decade, Muasau served aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear-powered supercarrier, and later trained nuclear power plant operators and managed testing programs as a chief petty officer. Both parents and his brother, Jarad, also a UCHealth employee, served in the U.S. Air Force. Danny Muasau estimates his family represents 70 years of active duty military service.

“We take a sidewalk to sidewalk view,” Muasau said of his current job. “We take ownership. It doesn’t matter if it’s changing a door handle or plunging a toilet – our job is to make people’s lives a little easier.”

Muasau calls his automotive rescues “no big deal” and an extension of making a visit to the hospital better.

“I enjoy working with my hands and making people’s lives a little easier,” Muasau said from his basement office. “I just assume anyone who is here is having a tough day and could use a break.”

Tough barely touches the surface of the day Memorial Central Trauma Services Director Rochelle Flayter was having when Muasau came to her rescue when a rental car she was driving had a flat tire. What normally would have been a minor inconvenience became bigger since Flayter was trying to make a flight to Ohio to visit an ailing parent and attend a child’s college graduation.

Muasau unpacked the trunk of Flayter’s rental, put the spare on, repacked everything and drove the car to an appropriate parking spot so she wouldn’t get a ticket. As Flayter left an important hospital meeting, he placed the car key in her hand and wished her a safe trip. She made her flight to Ohio.

“Although a flat tire may not normally be that challenging of an experience, I was near tears thinking ‘Why? I can’t handle one more thing today,’” Flayter wrote. “We often don’t know what’s happening with our co-workers in their personal lives and the stress one might be experiencing. When you’re at the end of your rope, nothing is more appreciated than a helping hand.”