a team to save lives - airplanista

7/29/2019 A Team to Save Lives - Airplanista

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June, 2011

AIRPLANISTAAIRPLANISTAav8rdans

MAGAZIN

Mans Best Friend:Take a scenic photo tour in the Husky A-Mans Best Friend:Take a scenic photo tour in the Husky A-

Joe Clark:The flight of instructors | Aviation WX:Whats with our weather?Vincent Lambercy: Fly with Jet-A in a Reims F172 | Chef Stuart Stein:SoCal, part 2

A Team toSave LivesA Team toSave LivesAn inside look at the dedicated

crews of Canadas Ornge Air

>>> Transport Medicine:

Little Big City>>> AirVenture Backstory:

EAAs Dick Knapinski explainsOshkosh city management

Saving Strips

>>> Aviation Advocacy:

John McKenna and theRecreational Aviation Foundation

Summer Travel>>> Destination Reports:

A few great places topoint your airplane
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>>> Transport Medicine

A Team to Save Lives

It takes

When a call comes in to an air ambulance operation,seconds count, and you need to the have finest equipmentready to launch quickly. And when the mission is critical,

having exceptional people on the job is vital to saving lives.


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By Jean Marcellin,

Special to Airplanista Magazine

In Timmons, Ontario, Canada, a young boy su-ers very serious internal injuries ater a collision witha car. Fireighters and paramedics rescue the boyater he becomes pinned underneath the vehicle andimmediately begins transporting him to a Torontoarea hospital eight hours away or treatment. Notlong ater the rescue, the phone rings throughout thewhole hangar at the base o Ornge Air...dispatch has acall or the team.

As a First Ocer on a Pilatus PC-12NG or Ornge

Air the aviation division o Ornge Transport Medicine I was standing by that day. When the call came in,we pilots werent given any inormation about thepatients condition, our job was to determine whetherit was sae to fy to our destination and, i so, to acceptthe call. Within 10 minutes, we inormed the OrngeCommunications Ocer that the weather in Torontowas sucient or our mission and gave her our verdict:the trip was a go.

As the ambulance carrying the boy made its wayto the airport, the Ornge Communications Centreinormed us o their progress to ensure that we would

be ready to leave as quickly as possible. Upon land-ing, my Captain and I waited in anxious silence tohear the sirens o the ambulance speeding up the air-ports road. I got pulled out o my own thoughts bymy Captains voice: There he is he announced in acalm voice. The six-year-old boy, barely visible in thestretcher, was being wheeled towards the plane by ourtwo paramedics, fanked by the boys parents.

As we took o and settled into our fight routinethe conversation inevitably drited towards the heart-broken amily members we had just let behind, themother who had accompanied us, and the most pre-cious cargo I have ever had to carry - the broken bodyo a six-year-old child ghting or survival.

A beautiul sunset welcomed us as we landed inToronto, but the upliting sight was muted by thearrival o a land ambulance that came to pick up ourpatient and carry him on the last leg o his transportto the Pediatric Trauma Centre. The day was over
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or us...but we would be prepared tomorrow to fyanother leg and ght or another lie.

Ater graduating rom fight school with a reshmulti-engine/IFR/commercial rating, I spent thenext two years fying charters all across North America,learning the ropes o IFR lying. Ater almost twoyears at Ornge Air, and with almost 1,000 hours onthe PC12-NG, Im getting ready to earn my stripes asa Captain. Although I have thoroughly enjoyed everysingle moment fying the airplane, working with OrngeAir meant moving my young amily to the northernOntario community o Timmins, an eight-hour drivenorth o Toronto. But I am one o the luckiest men inthe world...my wie ully supported me as we movedrom the Greater Toronto Area to a small mining cityo 45,000.

Despite the challenges o living ar away rom rel-

atives, the satisaction o working or Ornge Air arsurpasses the compromises Ive made or my career.Day in and day out, my coworkers and I are onstandby, ready to respond to the needs o the com-munities around us. We stay prepared to help peoplein their hour o need, helping them ght or survival.While the job can be pressure-packed and loaded withstressul moments, seeing a parents grateul smile aswe carry their young child to saety reminds me, everyday, why I fy these missions.

The history o the air ambulance industry trans-port medicine as it is called today dates back to thelate 1800s when hot-air balloons were used during theFranco-Prussian War o 1870 to transport woundedFrench soldiers out o Paris. In 1917, the rst ociallyrecorded fight o an air ambulance fight took placein Turkey. A British soldier was transported rom thebattleeld to the nearest hospital, reducing a trip thatwould have taken days to just a 45-minute fight. Withthis, the air ambulance industry was born.

The rst North American civil air ambulance opera-tion began in the Canadian province o Saskatchewan,and in 1977, the Ontario Air Ambulance Service, afight paramedic program, began with a single rotor-wing aircrat. Today, this program has developedbeyond providing air ambulance services into one othe largest and most sophisticated medical transportprograms in North America: Ornge.

As a vital part o the medical system, the not-or-

prot Ornge provides sophisticated medical transportor very ill and critically injured patients, both in theair and on the ground. The challenges are varied ina province 1,076,395 km in total area the size oFrance, Spain, and the Netherlands combined. Orngeshelicopters, xed wing aircrat and land vehicles havethe medical capabilities o mobile hospitals and handleover 21,000 transports every year. While most o ourcalls are or inter-acility transports, the most notice-able ones are scene calls, where transport medicineparamedics respond to the scene o accidents or inju-ries and airlit the patient to a trauma hospital. Suchan intricate organization requires extremely dedicatedpersonnel and resources to support its operations.

One o the two main ront-line resources usedby Ornge Air are 10 medically-equipped PilatusPC-12NGs. The challenges that we have to ace

are many, but the two major ones are distance andweather. While many other countries and services usethe King Air as their main work horse, Ornge Air choseto acquire a new feet o PC-12s in 2009 or two mainreasons, reliability and range. The Pilatus can coverup to 2,200 NM without a uel stop and allows us toprovide an unprecedented continuity o care to thevast province o Ontario. The avionics package avail-able on the new NG version o the legendary PC-12also provides pilots with constant situational aware-

ness, enabling higher saety standards or the crewsand patients.

Ornge Air has enjoyed a avorable relationshipwith Pilatus, the worlds leading manuacturer osingle-engine turboprop aircrat. In January, 2011the Ornge Foundation received a donation o over$343,000 rom Pilatus, to be used in Ornges Academyo Transport Medicine (ATM) to support the simula-tion program. The valuable nature o training thatsimulators provide is imperative and essential, said

Thomas Bosshard, President and CEO o PilatusBusiness Aircrat Ltd. We are very impressed withOrnges constant eorts to be as up-to-date as pos-sible with the latest medical technologies in order toprovide the best possible care or their patients.

The rotor-wing component o Ornge Airs aer-ial resources include 10 AgustaWestland AW139sThese state-o-the-art helicopters were chosen aspart o an initiative to counter the weather challenges

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encountered in northern operations because AW139sare capable and certied to fy in known icing condi-tions. They also provide enough power to allow theteam to respond to scene calls on hot summer dayswhen engine perormance is critical.

Like any other company in the world, Orngesoundation and core strength lies with its people. Atthe core o the organization, both in the air and onthe ground is a team o two highly trained paramed-ics on every Ornge vehicle. Paramedics are supported

by a dedicated team o communications oicers,maintenance engineers and with the exception ocritical care land ambulances pilots, who allow themull readiness and dispatch capabilities when the callcomes.

The almost 200 fight paramedics employed byOrnge Air are all hired based not only on their tech-nical experience, but also on their personal passionor working with people. Once hired by Ornge Air,

paramedics undergo highly specialized training thatprovides them with the specialized skills and knowl-edge needed to transport critically ill and injuredpatients. Paramedic training is a rigorous process, andcritical care fight paramedics undergo more intensetraining than other rst responders. It can take upto 10 years rom initial schooling or paramedics toachieve critical care certication.

The other hal o an Ornge Air response teamconsists o the pilots. Growth estimates project that

by the end o 2012, Ornge Air will employ roughly150 pilots and 50 proessional maintenance engineersTo be considered or a Captain position, applicantsrequire 2,000 hours total time and 500 hours PICwhile the minimum time or First Ocers is 500 hourstotal time.

However, Ornge Air is not your every-day jobEvery pilot (including First Ocers) hired undergoesweek-long simulator training related to either the

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PC-12NG or AW139. Ater about a month o addi-tional training, both in ground school and in fight,they are released or online duty, completing a 100hour line indoctrination with experienced Captains.Similar to the paramedics, every pilot is selected notonly based on their technical abilities, but also ontheir interpersonal skills and ability to work as a teamin high-stress situations.

Finally, Ornge Air could not operate without ateam o highly trained auxiliary personnel. With our

own communications ocers, maintenance engineers,trainers and dedicated management sta, Ornge Airis able to operate a sel-contained transport medi-cine service that is able to respond to patients needsaround the clock every day.

The medical interiors o both the PC-12s andAW139s have been designed by Ornge Air doctorsand paramedics specically or our operations, andprovide the same level o care as intensive care units

(ICUs). The teamwork and equipment o the aerialleet can be demonstrated by reading the story oseven-year-old Victoria Wilson.

Tori was playing in the schoolyard when sheknocked heads with another child, bouncing backand crashing into a jungle gym. What seemed likea normal playground accident was diagnosed as aconcussion in the emergency room: however, uponrealizing that blood was pooling in her brain, doctorsknew that Tori was in a critical state, requiring special-

ized treatment only available at a pediatric hospital.Ornge Air paramedics Marcie Beaudoin, Patrick

Auger, and pediatric paramedic John Holbrook fewTori to the Childrens Hospital o Eastern Ontario(CHEO), stabilizing her en route. Upon her arrivalTori underwent emergency brain surgery to remove a4-inch blood clot that was causing her to suer mini-strokes. Her parents, Roger and Susie Wilson, weretold that their daughters outlook was bleak; however

Cant miss them in the sky: Ornge Air paints everything in their aviation eet the same electric shade

o orange, not only or branding purposes but also to enhance visibility in high trafc situations.

Shown is one o their 10 PC-12NGs.>>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>



our team members ought or their patient, and uponarriving at CHEO Tori was already prepped and readyor her emergency surgery.

Tori survived her ordeal, and ater two emergencyoperations on her brain, she is recovering at home.Susie and Roger point to Ornge Air as a critical link inToris survival: They were amazing and understand-ing, very knowledgeable; they really knew what theywere doing! We are both so very thankul that Toriwas prepped or surgery in the helicopter. We believe

that this is a key actor in her survival!The transport medicine system in Ontario is set

up in such a way that patients who are residents othe province are transported without any direct costto them. The day-to-day operational costs o pro-viding transport medicine ser vices to Ontario areprovided or through a perormance agreement withthe Ontario Ministry o Health and Long Term Care.

But as a not-or-prot operation, Ornge has createda Foundation to raise money or capital equipmentresearch and development and training.

I am delighted to tell you that the six-year-oldboy rom Timmons and Tori Wilson both lived andrecovered rom their near-atal accidents. Howeveras much as I would like to deny it, the reality is thatdespite our readiness, our resources and our passion,not every patient can be saved.

But you have to remember that it is a collaborative

spirit and a compassionate heart that makes us whowe are as air transport medicine proessionals, andwe are proud o it. Challenges remain, and Ornge isworking every day towards pushing orward the inno-vations and initiatives that will allow us, one day, tosay: We did it...we saved a lie. Every time. Every fight. AA

Performance makes the difference: Ornge Air ies the AgustaWestland AW139 or many

reasons. Among them are the helicopters proven operational envelope in high/hot conditions,

and the models certifcation or ight into known icing conditions.>>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>

a team to save lives - airplanista

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