Real Stories from Air Medical Transport Patients and Personnel

Mission 140

On July 28, 2011, Grace on Wings teamed up with Missionary Flights International to get an injured 16 year old Haitian girl, Marie A., to Mayo clinic in Rochester Minnesota for a life saving surgery.

Marie's family was slowly rebuilding a house to shelter their family of 8 after it was destroyed by last year's earthquake.  With little money, construction was done with "cheap concrete" and materials and they had only a tarp for the "roof".  As she sat beside her little 3 year old brother studying for her finals at school, a storm arose and the tarp acted like a sail pulling down the wall.  She dove to get her brother to safety but the wall came down on her, crushing her spine at waist level.  Her family did not know what to do and Marie laid there all night in the rain in severe pain.  Her brother was uninjured.  The next day they were able to get a truck and load her into the back to go to local hospital.  She lay in a bed for 2 days with nothing being done and they decided to transfer her to the pediatric hospital in Port au Prince.

They discovered her T12 and L1 level of her spine was crushed and severely displaced and unstable.  Her spinal cord was injured and she had paralysis from hips down.  With any movement-eaven log rolling her, she has terrible pain.  She cannot sit up at all.  A spine stabilizing surgery needed to be done and a team from the Mayo clinic was graciously going to donate the procedure and hospital stay.  The only thing needed was to get her there.  International evacuations with commercial air ambulances can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Wynn, who is an administrator at the Haiti hospital met her and "fell in love with her beautiful smile."  He and paramedic Jon began to search and send out requests to help her.  Missionary Flights International is a cargo company that has weekly flights to Port au Prince to provide supplies to missionaries and they graciously donated the trip via a cot secured to the floor of their DC-3 into Ft Pierce Florida.  Grace on Wings was found through "a friend of a friend" and plane costs was donated from "Brothers and Sisters" charity.

On a beautiful blue-sky day, we met Marie and her mom and exchanged smiles.   She had a Bible written in Creole clutched on her chest.  We assessed her and transferred her to our cot and then carried her to our aircraft and prayed over her.  After a 3 1/2 hour flight in an unpressurized loud cargo plane, "Nellie"-our Mitsubishi MU-2 plane must have been an amazing improvement.  Wynn came along as an interpreter and friend.  We placed headsets on her with Christian music and found out she loves music and loves to sing.

We arrived at Mayo Clinic and Marie was tucked into her new bed.  She smiled for a picture with Wynn and finally had hope sparkling in her eyes.  She will have her surgery in a few days and begin her long rehabilitation.  We pray everything goes smoothly and that her family is able to rebuild back at home.

Wow what a brave little girl who has been through so much in the past year and 1/2!  I was honored to be able to help this little hero.

Thanks to our volunteer staff: Dr Milstead, Hal, Matt and Bob, and for the team at Missionary Flights International for making it happen!

AirMed ECMO teams meet miraculous 3 year old
Alexis Cormier of Hazel Green, Alabama, was born with HLHS, a rare congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped. It stands for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. At age 3, she underwent a third surgery to help her symptoms, but after this complicated surgery, her entire heart was damaged beyond repair. She was immediately put on ECMO.  More...

Two flights for life...Baby Clarissa Sorensen’s Story
Kyle Mills, Lewiston Morning Tribune

Clarissa Sorensen celebrated her birthday like a perfectly normal one-year old. She had a party and got cake on her face. Her parents, Randy and Lynda Sorensen, couldn’t be more grateful to celebrate this special day.

When Clarissa was born July 1, 2009, she was overdue --- healthy, weighing 8 lbs, 11 oz. and stretching 22 inches long.  But two weeks later, Clarissa’s developed an infection in her umbilical cord.

“We took her in and they incised, cauterized it and sent us home,” said Randy.  But the infection was still spreading, and spreading fast.  Within two days it had spread all the way around her small body.  She was admitted to the local hospital and put on antibiotics.  But then, a day later, Clarissa began having seizures.  The hospital called Northwest MedStar’s specialty perinatal/pediatric team to transport the baby from the small town in northern Idaho to a medical center in Spokane, Washington more than 100 miles away.

“Things got beyond where they could help us in Lewiston, and it was in our best interest to get her transferred,” said Randy, adding that he was fortunate to fly in the helicopter along with Clarissa.

“The helicopter pilot I got to sit next to was very reassuring,” recalled Randy.  “He seemed to know when I needed to talk and when I needed to be quiet for a little while and think.”

In Spokane, Clarissa had surgery to remove the infected area of the belly button, a good portion of the abdominal wall and some intestine, leaving a big, open wound that would take time to heal.

But Clarissa’s medical ordeal didn’t end there.  The infection was still taking a toll and soon her kidneys began to shut down.  Once again, NW MedStar was called.  “The hospital didn’t have the equipment to do dialysis on someone that small,” said Randy about why Clarissa needed a transfer.  This time both he and his wife, Lynda, joined Clarissa for an airplane ride to Seattle, where Clarissa was admitted to another medical center.

“At the time we were taking those flights, it was very scary, not the flight itself but the situation.  There were a lot of things we didn’t know.” said Randy, choking up at the memory.  “They knew how to care for our baby when we were outside of this hospital environment and had to spend those hours in transit.  That gave us a great feeling of comfort to know there were people that were that confident, taking care of our little girl, doing things we couldn’t do for her.”

“I just remember they were very professional and compassionate and caring,” said Lynda of the NW MedStar flight crew.  “You could tell they had done this a lot and had the skillsto take care of her in flight.  We felt like she was in very good hands on both trips.”

One of those care providers was Terri Tickner, Perinatal/Pediatric Flight Nurse for Northwest MedStar, who flew Clarissa on both legs of the transport. Terri recalls, “As a mother myself, you can’t help but put yourself in the parents’ position and develop a clear understanding of what they are going through.”

“We were fortunate to have Terri as the lead on both trips.  That was real comforting.  You could tell she knew what she was doing,” added Randy.  “She knew how to make us feel comfortable and make Clarissa have good care and transport."

In Seattle, Clarissa fought for her life.  ”It was pretty touch and go for us for quite a while.  We didn’t know from day to day what her prognosis would be,” said Randy, explaining that with lines in both arms and legs, they were running out of places to do dialysis.

Thankfully her kidneys started working again.  She recovered and returned home after five weeks. That same time, Terri received a call from Randy with the good news… a call she’ll never forget.

“She is doing real fine right now,” said Randy, describing how she is “doing all the things a one-year old little girl should do.” As a reminder of her ordeal, Clarissa now has a scar instead of a belly button.

Recalling Clarissa’s crisis and the two flights that carried her to the care she needed, Randy said, “It was a rough experience for us but a good one. We are thankful there are good people that do their jobs well.  Those MedStar teams are good. They will take care of your loved ones.”  

Motorcyclist says NW MedStar saved his life

When Rob Mildes’ motorcycle hit a deer during one Monday morning commute through rural roads of eastern Washington, he nearly bled to death.

Mildes, who is a physical therapist in Spokane, Washington, was traveling about 50 miles per hour when a mature doe stepped onto the road in front of his motorcycle, just a few miles from his Chattaroy home.  The collision killed the doe and left him lying in the road with multiple fractures, severe head trauma and internal injuries, including a ruptured spleen.

Thankfully, Mildes says, his neighbor, an ER nurse taking her first day of vacation in five years, was home and quick to the scene.  She stayed with him until the EMTs arrived, who assessed his life-threatening injuries and called Northwest MedStar for medical transport.  The flight team – pilot, respiratory therapist and registered nurse – were on the scene and transported Mildes to the hospital within 20 minutes of getting the call, likely saving his life.

“If it weren’t for Northwest MedStar I would not have lived,” he says, noting he needed 10 units of blood transfused at the hospital, about 80 percent of his total blood volume.  “My oil plug was out; I just about bled out.” By road, Spokane is about 30 minutes away.

Mildes, who also suffered a traumatic brain injury with three different brain bleeds, understandably doesn’t remember the accident or his subsequent Northwest MedStar helicopter ride.

“I always wanted to ride a helicopter,” says Mildes with wry humor.  “I rode….and remember nothing.”

The last thing he does remember before waking up ten days later at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, he says, is his wife telling him goodbye that morning.  She came out to the motorcycle as he was preparing to leave, touching her hand to his chin and saying, “I want you to know I love you.

That love helped sustain him when he left the hospital for rehabilitation therapy at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute.

Mildes says his full recovery, from that morning when he lay bleeding on the roadside to his return to full-time work a mere five months later, is a miracle, one he attributes to God and all of the medical professionals and support staff who worked together to save his life and get him well.

“I thank everybody from the RT, RN, pilot to the dispatcher.  It is a team approach. Everyone has an integral link,” he says.  “They are just totally professional, dedicated people to helping others, and they do a phenomenal job at it.

CALSTAR, Concord, CA

Every day, critically injured patients are rushed to trauma centers around the Bay Area. Some of the most serious cases travel by air. Now, their odds of survival may be improving because of a new state-of-the-art aircraft recently put into service.  Read full story/Watch video. 

Words are Not Enough to Thank the Bayflite Flight Crew. 
They Saved my Life and They are my Heroes.
Contibuted by Maria Riquet, Bayflite Airmedical Transport Program Patient   

It was a beautiful Sunday morning July 6, 2003.  I was in a group of cyclists riding down a two-way road.  But there was a driver traveling the opposite direction that was impatient with the person in front of him.  He went around the car and crossed the double yellow lines, and hit me and my cyclist friends head on.  I was immediately thrown from my bicycle, hitting the windshield and bounced over the hood of the car.

All I remember is laying face down in a pool of blood on the hot pavement.  I could hear the painful screams and cries for help from my fellow cyclists. In the faint distance I could also hear the sirens.  I kept telling myself to get up and help the others, but I couldn’t move… I was paralyzed.  All I could do was wait for someone to save me.

Suddenly I heard a voice, “I’m here to help.”  My broken body was taken by Bayflite Air Medical transport helicopter to a nearby hospital.  During the trip a crew of three worked vigorously to stabilize and keep me alive.  I don’t remember much of that period because of the injuries I sustained.  All I know is they did it!  They kept me alive!

This was one of the most unbelievably traumatic experiences of my life. It was definitely a life changing experience. I was confined to a hospital bed for three months.  My back, both of my arms, left leg, and four ribs were broken (Thirteen bones in all).  One of my lungs had collapsed and I suffered a serious brain injury.  The doctors told me I would never walk again and to begin preparing for a complicated and challenging future.

When I finally arrived home, I looked into the eyes of my four handsome, strong sons (who were taking care of me) and I was inspired to fight!  I took every ounce of courage and strength, every minute of each day, to get my mind set on getting out of the wheelchair. 

The extraordinary Bayflite crew gave me that opportunity to try and get out of the wheelchair.  I kept thinking, they gave me this chance, and they worked to keep me alive. I can’t disappoint them. I need to show them it was a life worth saving.  So now it was up to me to struggle through several surgeries and many months of physical therapy to learn how to walk, and to take care of myself and my family.  During this time period I was told by one of my physical therapists that in order for me to succeed in what I was trying to do I would have to leave my former athletic self behind and start a new life from that point on.  I did just that and I learned to walk, to take care of myself and my family, but it didn’t stop there.

I started lifting weights for strength and survival, which lead to me bodybuilding.  Not only could I walk, I did it with pride as I walked on stage for my first competition as a bodybuilder in 2006.  I will compete again in September 2007.

I can’t even put in words all of the joy, appreciation and love I feel for the Bayflite. They saved me and gave me a second chance. I owe my life to that crew.  I have two commitments now: to help inspire others in fighting for what they believe in, because of what the Bayflite Crew did that for me. The other is to thank all of those who are a true inspiration. Thank you to the Bayflite crew: Flight Nurse Scott Wyant (pictured at left), Scott Zweifel, Flight Paramedic, the Pilot was Amund Moe, and the two Flight Communicators were Jane Stoop and Gil Canchani.

Tim Harmer's Story of Hope

In 1986 while working in the construction industry, I experienced a life-threatening injury.

We were cutting cement and it was a very freak accident that happened. The masonry saw blade exploded and cut me through the abdomen region of my body and I was bleeding profusely internally and externally. At that split second, I really thought that I was going to die.

The local ambulance showed up at the scene where the accident occured and their immediate assessment was I need to be flown immediately to a level one trauma center. Obviously, they called Life Flight from Iowa Methodist Medical Center. Within a matter of minutes, they landed and picked me up and proceeded to load me in the helicopter and fly me here to Iowa Methodist Medical Center.

If it weren't for the tremendous professionalism and skill of Life Flight and Iowa Methodist, who knows what the outcome would have been if it wouldn't have been such a quick response by the Life Flight crew and obviously the skill of the great doctors at Iowa Methodist.

It was phenomenal that I could actually get up and walk out of Methodist after 11 days and not have any prolonged conditions after the fact was quite miraculous. And of course, that accident did indeed change the path of my life. Twenty one years ago, a helicopter similar to the one behind me saved my life and I'm proud that I'm a pilot for Life Flight today and that I can go out and save other people's lives.

It was phenomenal that I could actually get up and walk out of Methodist after 11 days and not have any prolonged conditions after the fact was quite miraculous. And of course, that accident did indeed change the path of my life. Twenty one years ago, a helicopter similar to the one behind me saved my life and I'm proud that I'm a pilot for Life Flight today and that I can go out and save other people's lives.

Do YOU have a special patient story to share?
We are looking for stories that show the value of what we do and how air and/or critical care ground medicine can make a difference in a patient's life. If you have a story, we would love to hear from you!
 
Please provide a signed AAMS Patient Release, the copy for your story, and any accompanying photos to Blair Beggan via e-mail at bbeggan@aams.org.  We will do our best to post your patient experience in a timely manner.