AirMed Visit to EskDale

 AirMed, the medical helicopter from the University of Utah hospital, recently came to visit EskDale. They have a new base in Nephi, which makes it the closest medical helicopter to our area. We were running a little late, so as we drove up, I told the kids to look for the helicopter. Desert Boy spotted it flying along the mountains. I had to stop and take a photo because it looked so cool.

After a circle around EskDale, the helicopter prepared for landing. We know the pilot, so that made it extra exciting.

We parked and walked over to the front of the center and everyone was waiting for the okay to come over. It's a two-minute shut down procedure on the Jet Ranger 407, so the flight nurse was gesturing for everyone to stay back. Once the helicopter was off, we all got to approach and take a closer look. There was a good turnout.

I've recently had training with AirMed, so I had heard most of the talk, but it was good to have some of the points reinforced. It's really nice to know that we have such a high level of care available in about 45 minutes, especially since the nearest hospital is over an hour away and most of our ambulances are just basic life support.

The helicopters are staffed with a pilot, flight nurse, and paramedic. They carry quite advanced gear on them, allowing them to act as a mini portable emergency room.

We wanted to stay longer, but had to leave as I had another commitment. But we sure enjoyed the opportunity to learn more.

Lifeflight Training

Last week the Life Flight helicopter from Provo came out to provide an orientation and training for the services they provide. We (the local volunteer emergency squad) actually called Life Flight a few weeks ago to respond to a motorcycle wreck, and it was so good to know that advanced medical help was coming, as it's about an hour ride in an ambulance to the nearest hospital.

For our training, they landed in a parking lot and then we proceeded to a classroom, where we learned lots of useful things. They fly Agusta helicopters, with a 150 mph cruising speed in the summer, and 130 mph in the winter when they add the skis (they get a lot of ski resort business in the winter). They have hoist capabilities, but that takes some extra time to set up before they start the mission. It took them just under an hour to fly to our location, and it takes about 5-8 minutes to get into the air from the time they get a call. They have enough fuel to get to our location and part way back, but have to do a refueling stop on the return flight.

Life Flight flies day and night. At night they use night vision goggles, so they gave us some guidance of what lights they want on the ground when they come so they know where to go but aren't blinded. We also went over the landing zone criteria, especially for the backcountry.

They gave us a tour of the helicopter. The usual crew is the pilot, a paramedic, and a flight nurse. They have room for one patient on a gurney. Because of the high level of training of the crew, they are essentially operating a mobile intensive care unit.

The crew talked about how to approach the helicopter and other safety precautions. I've heard most of it before, but a refresher is good because I simply don't deal with helicopters that often.

After a couple hours they lifted off and headed back. They had been surprised on their way out here about the vast stretch of "nothingness." When you travel at 150 mph and think that, it gives you a good idea how remote we are! It sure is nice to know that even though we are remote, we have access to top-notch medical care, although it will take a little while to get here.

Here's a link to Life Flight's website if you'd like to learn more about their bases, aircraft, history, and more.