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November 14, 2007
Helicopter Training!
If I may, I would like to introduce our county's newest piece of lifesaving equipment, Air Bubble, ahem, excuse me, I mean Air Mobile One! (It sounded like the pilot was saying "Air Bubble" upon approach to our landing zone...
Along with their Mobile Critical Care ambulance...
...staff from our Level One Trauma hospital can administer life saving drugs, practice advanced airway management, and get you to a hospital with a quickness!
Okay, I'm no shill for this hospital, and there are two other air ambulance services in our area, LifeFlight and AirCare. We have trained with the other two, I just don't have pictures.
Thursday, November 15th, 2007 is the date Air Mobile One goes live. They will do inter-facility transfers, get dispatched to bad car accidents, acute heart attacks, or other life endangering events. But no helicopter service is an island. They need the help of Firefighters and EMS personnel to make it all work. That is why we train with them.
Here is the sequence of events. Let's use a car accident as an example. Two cars hit head on on a major interstate. Firefighters are called in to use the Jaws Of Life to extricate patients. Since extrication time will be longer than 20 minutes, the hospital is quite a distance away, and due to the mechanism of the patient's injuries (the head on car accident) the use of a helicopter is needed. One group of Firefighters are extricating. Another group is setting up a Landing Zone, and EMS people are tending to patients. The Landing Zone is typically 100 feet by 100 feet. For training, we used a soccer field...
You can't see them, but there are four traffic cones out there, designating a Landing Zone. At night, we would have two or four vehicles, with their headlights pointed at each other, lighting up the area for the helicopter.
Here, we are waiting for Air Mobile One to land...
On approach...
Almost here...
Touchdown!
After landing, we went over operations of the helicopter, how the flight crew perform their jobs, and what they expect of us...
Let's get back to the accident. By now, the patient has been removed from the vehicle, and taken to a ground ambulance where Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians will work to stabilize the patients condition, and get them ready for transport. Dale is our patient today. Sidebar: Dale doesn't like heights. At all. But Dale, partly because of peer pressure, and partly because he wants to conquer his fears, volunteered to be our first patient. You go Dale! He is strapped down to a backboard and stretcher, to simulate a suspected spinal/neck injury. Here, he is being stabilized in the ambulance...
Once removed from the ambulance, we are now under the orders of the flight crew. We follow them to the back of the helicopter, and load the patient in.
We follow the strict orders of the flight crew, to keep us, and them safe. We watch for hand signals, lights, or other warning devices, so we know where to go, and where not to go. (Rotors can ruin your whole day.)
This is where we load the patient...
This view is from inside the helicopter looking towards the rear.
And here goes Dale...
Once inside the helicopter, the flight crew, including Nurses, Paramedics, and sometimes Firefighters work to secure the patient, administer drugs, help the patient breathe, or perform other vital functions. After making sure all safety checks have been done, the helicopter prepares for takeoff...
On the scene, of course, all of us would be wearing full protective personal equipment, such as turnout pants/coats, gloves, helmets and maybe goggles. For the "cold" loads, as you can see in the pictures, we were not required to wear our PPE, but during the "hot" loads, we had on our helmets. What do I mean by "cold" and "hot" loads? Cold loads are when the crew shuts off the engine, making is safer to approach, and easier to communicate with each other. The rotors remain engaged for a hot load, adding another level of danger to an already dangerous profession, but we and the flight crew wouldn't have it any other way! We enjoyed the training we received, and I personally learned a lot. We hope never to have to call on Air Mobile One, but in case we do, we will be ready!
Posted by Jon at November 14, 2007 04:53 PM
Comments
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing this exciting day and your training!
Posted by: s'mee at November 14, 2007 11:13 PM