You've likely heard, and maybe even seen, a LifeFlight helicopter pass over your home.

The air ambulance flies all over the place transporting patients from hospitals and emergency scenes.

Meghan Hayward got to spend an entire day following the life flight crew around.

And learned it involves a lot of work in a small amount of space.

"So we're green, yellow right now."

At the start of every shift, LifeFlight crew members have a briefing with each other and another crew in Lewiston, where they go over who's working the particular shift and what the weather conditions are.

"So we use kind of a stop light color system for deciding what our weather is. Green obviously we can go anywhere. Yellow is could be, maybe we can, maybe we can't. Something we'd have to look at much more closely and then red is we can't fly. The weather is too bad and we're grounded."

There are a lot of necessary safety precautions too.

Most importantly, being aware of what's around you.

"Kind of keeping your head on a swivel as we call it, is one of the most important things you can do. Being aware of where you are in relation to all the moving parts on the helicopter is obviously important as well."

A usual flight has two nurses and the pilot, along with the patient.

But there's also plenty of equipment that has to fit inside the helicopter.

"The stuff that we carry every flight that we go on, we have everything you would need to care for a patient in the ICU or in the ER. We bring that level of care to the patient."

Crew members say the small aircraft works well, giving them more landing zone options.

"We're able to land at a lot tighter Lzs, on the highway at some of these remote Lzs we have. So the size works really well for our area up here."

Another advantage to working in such close quarters.

"The good thing about this is everything between the person forward facing and back facing everything is within arm's reach. The patient's head is right here so it seems cramped but you can get everything done without having to move very far."

It's all about moving quickly. that includes unbuckling the seat belt.

" Them showing me proper way to unbuckle."

Another safety precaution is what they refer to as the "blind call."

That means they don't immediately know the nature of the emergency they're responding to, which they say helps them make tough decisions about flying safety.

"The pilot as well as the crew. That way, when the pilot makes a weather decision it's solely based on the weather and what he's seeing. It's not emotionally based. That way he makes the best possibly decision for the crew, the program and the patient."

Print this Story

Recent Stories