By Jordan Studer
news@wbcowqel.com
Though the weather was hot, the interest was high at the Bucyrus Area Safety Council monthly meeting on Tuesday afternoon. This month, MedFlight came to demonstrate a medical helicopter landing at the Port Bucyrus-Crawford County Airport in the Hord Family Farms hangar.
Matt Miller, Business Development Specialist from Time Staffing, thought having MedFlight come and speak to the BASC was extremely important.
“Not everyone realizes everything that has to go into that… there’s so much clearance that they have to get for their own operation, safety of the vehicle, and flight itself, but then also taking in concern of the patient that they’re transporting. It’s not just a pilot and a nurse, there’s a whole team,” Miller explained.
Throughout the event, a few staff members from MedFlight came to talk about many important safety aspects they must take for every flight. A medical helicopter landing also took place and all BASC members were able to look inside the helicopter and ask questions.
One MedFlight staff member, Amanda Ball, spoke about some of MedFlight’s history as well as some fun facts that people may not know. Ball explained that all money that MedFlight makes goes back into purchasing their equipment to insure that they always have top-of-the-line equipment. By always having the best equipment possible, transportation of patients is a lot safer and more efficient.
Another safety precaution that people may not realize is that the helicopters and all the other equipment are bright green to be sure they can be seen and recognized at all times. With 12 hospital bases all over the state and about 40 transports a day, being recognizable to all staff is extremely important.
Ball also explained that each MedFlight helicopter is fully staffed. A flight paramedic, a flight nurse, and a pilot are all on board. Ball explained how all the flight staff have to go through an immense amount of training before joining the flight crew.
Each crew member serves a distinct purpose. The flight paramedic is ready to deal with all of the trauma and the flight nurse provides the hospital aspect of the accidents. Each MedFlight helicopter has everything on board that a level one ICU has, helping the staff on board provide every necessary aid to help the patient.
After the life-flight landing demo, a flight medic, Woody Schubert, also gave some safety tips to the audience. Schubert also explained to the audience what usually keeps the flight crew staff doing what they are doing.
“It’s one of those jobs where you see folks at their worst, but then what’s really rewarding is that you see a lot of them again after that period. When they come out to the base and say, ‘Hey I don’t remember you, I don’t remember the trip at all, but I’m doing well. I’m still with my family and I thank you for that.’ Once that starts to happen, it’s kind of difficult to leave,” Schubert explained.