LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s a joint effort with the University of Mississippi AirCare and North MS Medical Center Careflight helicopters.
Dozens of Lowndes County first responders came together to learn safety tips about working with emergency aircrafts.
“It’s very essential that we train them on proper landing zones, especially for our helicopter, which is larger than others. We need a safe place so that we don’t have to worry, and we can help them on the side of the road, or wherever they are with the patient and assist their needs,” says AirCare Flight Nurse, Cori Britner.
It’s a chance for both groups to learn each other’s expectations when responding to an emergency.
“We very often depend on the ground crews, the first responders, and the EMS to secure a place for our helicopter to land, so that’s why we go out and do these classes, and work with them because it does us no good if we have an accident, so it’s very important to us to keep everybody safe on the ground, and everyone in the air safe,” says AirCare Operation Manager, Sam Marshall.
It’s crucial for first responders to know when and when not to approach the helicopters, how to load and unload patients, and also to know what type of landing zone there needs to be.
“As we get into more trauma situations, we don’t know which helicopter is coming, so we want to be ready for whichever unit arrives on scene to help and assist us,” says Lowndes County District 3 Assistant Fire Chief, Jimmy Hildreth.
The class also shows how valuable both sides are to each other.
“Very excited to be here, and have the opportunity to interact with them. We don’t usually get that. Our interaction with them is on a typical scene call, and is very small because we’re working through that golden hour to try to get that patient to the opportunity level of care, so there’s no opportunity to really interact, so this opportunity is huge,” says AirCare 3 Pilot, Miles Dunagan.
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