Brandon Twp – To the bystander the scene of an accident may look chaotic’but to the professionals on scene it’s an intensely choreographed race against time.
‘The first hour is the golden hour,? said Registered nurse-paramedic John Bullen of the Unrversity of Michigan Survival Flight crew. ‘Essentially, a helicopter puts you closer to medical trauma care.?
In a trauma situation, medical professionals consider treatment within the first hour crucial to the victim’s chance of survival, and every step of the rescue team is vital to that time frame.
The survival flight crew was on hand July 12, to assist Brandon firefighters in learning a new step in scouting and pre-organizing a survival helicopter landing site, should a victim need transport to urgent care by air ambulance.
Although Brandon Fire Department Shift Commander Dave Kwapis said there has never been an occasion to call for air transport, it is the responsibility of the fire department personnel on scene to choose the landing site.
‘It is the medics? responsibility to determine and contact the base hospital for the survival flight,? said Kwapis.
‘It’s the responsibility of the department to choose a landing site, which is why everybody is trained to know what to look out for.?
The biggest danger, says Kwapis is landing-pad size, which should be at least a 100 feet by 100 feet- area to allow for safe rotor space. The second is the potential for debris hazard such as dust or snow.
Kwapis said a patient with severe burns or an entrapment might be a candidate for a survival flight because of the shorter response and transport time
In service since 1983, Survival Flight is the University of Michigan’s advance life support, air medical transport program offering highly skilled medical care teams on scene to administer certified advance medicine, and to some, even surgical procedures while en route to a trauma care center.
The flight teams rotate between two RN-paramedics and a pilot to residents, a nurse and a pilot.
Loaded with survival equipment such as heart defibrillator, pacemakers, monitors, suction, and oxygen, Survival Flight makes up to four flights a day to 1,400 flights a year.
The U of M system houses three helicopters, two for medical air transport and a third for organ procurement.
‘Twenty years ago there was no life support care,? said flight RN John Bullen. ‘These days patients that start out sicker are actually able to survive because the whole emergency medical service system is maturing.?