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Show Davis Ak Medics9 risk Eves to save lives By GARY R. BLOPGETT FARM INGTON For years they have been paramedics on the local highways, now seven Davis 0 bounty Sheriff Department de-ties de-ties are paramedics on the airways. air-ways. On their off-duty time at least once or twice a week these same highway paramedics put in 12-hour shifts as air-medics with either Lifeflight of LDS Hospital or University Uni-versity of Utah Medical Center's Air-Med Service. "We want to utilize our medical knowledge and experience as much as possible," said Captain K.D. Simpson, commander of the sheriff department's patrol division. divi-sion. "The best way to do that is to work as an air-medic," he added. Paramedics on the ground, who are also paramedics in the skies are Capt. Simpson, Lt. Colin Hart, Lt. J.R. Hunt, Sgt. Kevin McLeod, and deputies Scott Larsen, Dave Flukeger and Nancy Koning. "That adds up to a Jot of paramedic para-medic experience," said Capt. Simpson. He and Lt. Hart and Sgt. McLeod have nearly 50 years of cumulative experience. "That doesn't include the many years of experience of the other four paramedics para-medics who are also air-meds." Why do they do it? The answers from those who were interviewed were similar. They responded that they have the education, dedication and experi-. ence to be able to help others, and want to use their free time for that purpose. Capt. Simpson explained that both Lifeflight and Air-Med are hospital-based helicopters whose prime missions are to transport injury in-jury victims from an accident scene to the hospital; to transport patients pa-tients from one hospital to another; and to participate in search and rescue res-cue missions. Not only are these life-saving missions inexpensive to the injury victims, there is no charge from "Of-course It's exciting and rewarding to save lives as an i air-medic and hundreds of lives are saved every year," said Capt. K. D. Simpson, one of seven Davis County Sheriff Department deputies who serve both as ground paramedics par-amedics and as air-medics. either flight service for time spent on search and rescue missions unless un-less it involves transportation of a patient. "This means hundreds of hours of in-flight time are spent by both air services in search and rescue missions without a charge being made. It's simply a case of public service that much of the public is not aware," 'Said Capt. Simpson. . Davis paramedics agree that the work done by air-medics is somewhat some-what dangerous but very rewarding. re-warding. "Of course it's more rewarding when a life is saved and hundreds hun-dreds of lives are saved every year. IKillliK PHOTO BY GARY BLODGETT Lifeflight ambulance helicopter hovers above accident scene at intersection of U.S. Highway 89 and Shepard Lane, Farmington. Accident victim was flown directly to LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City where he was treated for serious injuries. But it's also sad when you put your life on the line, work hard and do all that you can to save a life, and then have that life slip away," the paramedics para-medics agreed. They said the most devastating experiences come with children who are badly injured or burned and with adults who are paralyzed from an accident. "It's hard to get these kind of things out of your mind," they said. Capt. Simpson reminisced of the flight he made to Skull Valley in an attempt to save a 12-year-old boy who had grasped a power line that was being stretched over miles of poles. "Apparently no one saw him and as he hung on to the wire he was lifted higher and higher into the air," said Capt. Simpson. "When he did let go he must have been as high as the poles and the fall was fatal. "It was a long flight to this remote re-mote area. He was alive when the call was received, but he died before be-fore we could get to him." He told of a search that involved a rescue mission deep into the Wasatch Mountains to look for a scout leader and a group of Scouts reported overdue. "It was a dark night and we had been searching for a long time when the pilot spotted a flicker in the trees below;-" We" landed in a meadow and it turned out to be the Scouts signaling us. "When we got to the campsite, the Scoutmaster was dead. The Scouts were still trying to revive him," Capt Simpson said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ' ' ' 1 ' , .1. - . , i NANCY KONING Paramedics risk lives, save lives Continued from page one The job is dangerous because most of the missions are in remote re-mote areas usually over the mountains or across Utah's vast lakes. Wind currents, rugged terrain ter-rain and extreme inclement weather weath-er make many of the trips hazardous. hazar-dous. Lifeflight will venture up to 150 miles from its Salt Lake City base. Air-Med will travel up to 200 miles on occasion, especially on life-saving life-saving rather than search and rescue res-cue missions. "Our job is to provide advance life support keep the patient alive and as comfortable as possible possi-ble until he or she can be transported trans-ported to a hospital. After that, hospital trauma, emergency and surgical teams take over," Lt. Hart explained. Capt. Simpson said paramedics aboard the helicopters must work very closely with the flight nurse while at the same time assisting the pilot when possible, especially while landing and taking off. "We have a great rapport with ground crews throughout northern Utah," the paramedics agreed. "It doesn't matter which airflight service ser-vice responds or who the crew might be, we are a welcome sight and there's never any problem about ab-out taking charge and getting patients pa-tients from the scene to the hospital f ' .... ; -;., , I f V SGT. KEVIN McLEOD w j V w i SCOTT LARSEN as quickly, as comfortably and as safely as possible." It was also agreed that speed is of the essence, especially in trauma cases. "Victims diminish quickly after the first hour of a trauma accident." acci-dent." , Once in the hospital, victims are met with a team of trauma experts. Next an emergency team takes over and preps them for surgery, and there is always a surgical team standing by to do their job, the paramedics pa-ramedics explained. Some airflights take only a few minutes to complete, others require re-quire several hours. One mission - - VI l r I LT. COLIN HART v., : I ( , ft CAPT. K. D. SIMPSON over the Great Salt Lake in a search for lost hunters continued for 26 hours before the hunters were found walking along the shoreline. In Davis County, Great Salt Lake and Farmington Canyon are the "busy" spots for rescue operations. opera-tions. In Salt Lake County, Cottonwood Cot-tonwood Canyons, especially Granite Gra-nite face, are troublesome areas. Since both hospitals provide airflight service, Davis County Sheriff Department dispatchers rotate ro-tate their calls requesting the service. ser-vice. If one is busy, the other will respond. "The public is simply not aware fc i .ir- , I DAVE FLUKEGER LT. J. R. HUNT of the service much of it without cost to the persons involved and all of it without cost to the taxpayers," tax-payers," the local paramedics noted. One resident who is aware of the service from inside and out is Lt. Hart. "I not only fly and perform my duties with Air-Med, but I have had occasion to use both services to transport two of my children to Primary Children's Medical Center Cen-ter in life-saving incidents," Lt. Hart said softly. "I guess you can't get much more familiar with a medical service ser-vice than that." |
