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Those Of You That Have Done Med-evacs: Advice And Tips?


Daz
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Good response Darren.

 

I read your initial post as something posted from a young - newly licenced Pilot with huge enthusiasm, BUT I called you on your choice of words. I believe that you never meant any disrespect from it.

 

The term FUN does not ever describe a Medical Flight.

 

 

 

 

 

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I read your initial post as something posted from a young - newly licenced Pilot with huge enthusiasm...

 

 

That statement is pretty much bang on... except for the 'young' part.

 

Then again, to some folks 37 might be considered young :D. Amongst the crew I work with - not so much

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I read your initial post as something posted from a young - newly licenced Pilot with huge enthusiasm...

 

 

That statement is pretty much bang on... except at 37, some might dispute the 'young' part. :D

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37 ...sounds young to me :lol:

 

Out of curiosity, did you use Kims B-3, the Elbow 212 or the Local 206L3?

 

Elbow's 212. Kim and his B-3 aren't with RK Heli anymore, so Elbow River has a shiny 407 filling that role.

At first, the folks at RK''s base were having trouble contacting the helicopter as it was waaay out on the western edge of their tenure (and down in a hole where the radio reception was poor), so we did investigate other options like the local 206 and whatnot. A sat-phone call from RK to Elbow's 212 got them here within minutes, however.

 

Whenever we request helicopter assistance, the Elbow guys almost always try to use the 212; it's really easy to load a litter and a couple of attendants in that big machine, whereas the 407 (or a 206) would need to land, shut down, and install the Bell litter kit. I'm told that's a bit of a pain and takes longer, so they just send the 212.

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  • 1 month later...
Darren,

Was that 40min from hill to a trauma center? Or the local ER?

 

40 minutes from the time the incident was reported to us, to the 212 landing at the local ER in Invermere. STARS took him to Foothills Hospital in Calgary from there.

 

 

Designating someone to be "safety lookout" to watch that no one gets into a conflict with the machine if you can spare the man power.

Slow things down,when you rush TOO much, some times things go sideways. Realising of course that a medical emergency is not to be completed at a snails pace but with expedited efficiency.

 

L3, we do use a safety lookout; in this case, the injury and landing site were inside a gated terrain park, so we only needed one safety guy at the (closed) gate to prevent skier traffic from getting close. We also stopped loading the chairlift that services that part of the mountain.

 

You're absolutely right about rushing - during training we often remind ourselves that a situation is not OUR emergency, it is the patient's emergency. I know that sounds callous (and we're not; quite the contrary) but it does serve as a reminder to not panic or rush.

 

I like your wording - "expedited efficiency". B)

 

 

 

 

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