Feature

TReview Wednesday, March 18,1992 — A14

ANGELS

Continued from Page A13

four feet in diameter inside —
Scott and Wilson connect compact
Pro-Pac monitors to both patients.

The monitors give a continuous
record of pulse, blood pressure,
heart beat and oxygen saturation
in the blood. Hooks attach the
monitors to the stretcher.

The plane is also equipped with
an external pacemaker and defi-
brillator, explains Scott, who has
flown with the service for 14
years. The only problem is short-
age of space — the jet offers
equivalent equipment but less
room than an ambulance.

Scott adjusts the stretcher to
make one patient more comforta-
ble. The man drifts to sleep as the
jet flies over the cloud-filled val-
leys of the upper Island.

“The patients always have to be
Strapped in because if we hit an air
pocket, suddenly you’re on the
ceiling,” Scott said.

11 a.m. The plane lands at Port.

Hardy where an ambulance is
waiting to transfer the man to Alert
Bay. Scott grabs a small container
of orange juice from a drawer and
Tuns Out tO give it to the patient:
just before landing the man had
requested water.

Both Scott and Wilson try to
communicate with the stroke
patient, who is unable to speak, to
ensure she is as comfortable as
possible. As the plane takes off,
Wilson places a hand on the
woman’s feet, both to brace her
against the pressure and to provide
reassurance. For a patient strapped
on a stretcher, Scott said, there is a
sense of sliding down during take-
off.

Scott notes both patients are
stable transfers. The most difficult,
he says, are the priority one emer-
gency transfers.

‘For the emotions,
it would be the kids
— any Kids’

“The most difficult are the
multi-symptom patients — pneu-
monia, congestive heart failure —
trying to figure out what is causing
their distress is difficult.

“For the emotions, it would be
the kids — any kids.”

In Prince Rupert, it is raining.
Buffeted by gusts of wind, the jet
bounces slightly on approach, the
Tain streaking in fine pleats across
the windshield.

The smooth landing is a tribute
to the pilots’ skill, Scott notes.
“It’s amazing how these guys can
keep it so level when they’ve got
30 mile-per-hour head winds.”

Pilot Smedley has been flying
for 20 years while Webb has been
with air ambulance for four years.

At Prince Rupert, a helicopter
waits to transfer the patient from
the island airport to the town. On
contract to medivac, the two-
engine helicopter 1s owned by

The paramedics accompany the
stroke victim in the helicopter to
the mainland and then by ambul-
ance to Prince Rupert hospital. At
the hospital there is another
patient who is to be transferred

down to Vancouver.

Such transfers are scheduled to
make maximum use of flights,
Scott said. “A lot of the key to this
transporting of patients is to con-
nect with other patients.”

Except during emergencies. “A
ptiority one comes in and we go,”
Scott added.

Schedules are constantly shifted
to meet the changing needs around
the province. Returning from the
Prince Rupert Hospital with one
patient, Scott and Wilson also
bring a course correction.

The jet is being diverted to
Smithers, to pick up a paraplegic
patient for transfer to Prince

feito

FROM JET TO HELICOPTER, a patient returning to Prince
Rupert travels from the island airport to the mainland by
helicopter, affer a jet flight from Vancouver.

George hospital. A nurse will
accompany that patient, leaving no
room on board for a reporter.
Shortly after 1:00 p.m., CG-
HYD takes off from Prince

HELPING DAD PLANT trees along Kennel epee in Sane
Saanich Sunday is Dallas Duobaitis, 9, with Vince, a
member of the Haig-Brown Fly Fishing Association. The
Sandhill Creek tributary will benefit from the resulting

growth. It is designed to provide cover in future years.
GLENN WERKMAN photo

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