Even When I-80 Is Closed, Medical Couriers Still Allowed To Go Through

Before DoorDash, John Haggerty of Cheyenne was dashing through the snow to help others with groceries and other deliveries. That led him to a peculiar profession at one point — medical deliveries. 

And made him one of the few people in the Cowboy State who has legally traveled Interstate 80 even when it was closed to normal traffic.

Haggerty didn’t start out as a medical courier. At first, he just offered a service like DoorDash today.

“I called myself ‘The Errand Boy,’” Haggerty said. “Then I decided it didn’t sound professional enough, so I went to Stagecoach Couriers after that.”

Haggerty is still using that name, though he’s given up collecting groceries for homebound seniors and the like. It just doesn’t pay enough anymore, particularly since DoorDash came to town.

“I’ve tried DoorDash,” Haggerty added. “And the most I ever made in one night doing that was like $50, $60.”

That was far less than he used to make for that type of work, and yet it still had to cover gas and vehicle maintenance. It didn’t take Haggerty long to decide that wasn’t for him. He would stick with making deliveries for larger companies, which has been much more lucrative. 

That includes his potentially life-saving gig as a medical courier.

That was something he lucked into by answering an intriguing classified ad. 

The phone call resulted in a two-day road trip with the company’s owner, picking up medical specimens all along the way from Saratoga, Rawlins and Rock Springs, and then back to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center.

Scary Nights

Interstate 80 is considered one of the most dangerous roads in America, particularly during winter. 

Truck drivers have told Cowboy State Daily they will go out of their way to avoid the corridor, particularly in bad weather, because it is so hazardous.

Haggerty doesn’t necessarily disagree, but as a medical courier, the things he was delivering had to get from A to B as quickly as possible.

Like the mail, medical deliveries need to get where they are going, regardless of rain, snow, sleet or hail. 

Lives depend on it.

That’s led to some pretty scary nights on I-80, he will readily admit. 

“I went and got one of those little yellow rotary lights to put on top of my car so when it was a blizzard people could see me,” he said.

It didn’t take long for Haggerty to realize that, actually, no one could see that little yellow rotary light at all during a blizzard. He needed something bigger and bolder to be seen.

“So, I went and got one of those big white bars,” he said. 

The scariest times to him, though, weren’t actually the times when he had to travel on I-80 after it was closed to regular traffic. It was when the highway was still open to the public that things got their scariest.

“People were getting into wrecks almost every day,” he said. 

Once the highway was closed, he no longer had to contend with any other traffic or worry about what other drivers might do. And there were no semi-truck sandwiches, where he was stuck between large vehicles that are churning and spitting snow at him, making it difficult to see.

It’s Going To Cost You A Leg, Seriously

The main stipulation for driving on I-80 when it was closed, Haggerty said, was to let those manning the closed areas know that he had made it safely from one side to the next. That way, they would know that he wasn’t stuck somewhere in between, blocking the way for the next authorized vehicle traveling through. 

Many of the medical specimens Haggerty delivered this way were routine. Things like blood samples, urine specimens and biopsies. 

“The strangest thing I ever had that I didn’t realize I was hauling until I got to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center was a part of a leg from the knee down,” he said. “That was the strangest thing I ever hauled. It was frozen, though, so I didn’t have to worry too much about it.”

Specimens like that are kept frozen by packing them with dry ice, Haggerty said. So, as long as he was able to keep moving, there was never any real danger they would thaw out.

Haggerty continued serving as a medical courier for a few years before deciding it wasn’t for him. He still travels I-80 on a daily basis, though, even in winter. His focus now is delivering governmental mail from Cheyenne to Rawlins. 

Generally, that means travel five days a week, he said, but he no longer needs to drive the route while it’s still closed.

“Sometimes I get lucky, and it’s still closed when I wake up,” he said. “But I’m on my way again as soon as it reopens. Other times it closes after I’m already on my way, due to wrecks, so I get caught up and delayed because of all the wrecks.”

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.