Cover Story


Barbara Coffel, a flight nurse for Indiana University Health LifeLine, performs a pre-flight check.


MARC LEBRYK / Custom Publications


A job to love | Before Samantha McCarty, RN, PHRN, EMT-B, became a flight nurse, she worked for years in the emergency department of a rural hospital. The facility frequently used emergency helicopters to transfer patients. Eight years ago, she jumped at the chance to join Air Evac Lifeteam and now is stationed at the helicopter base in


Brazil, Ind. “I like the autonomy,” McCarty said.


“I don’t have a doctor over my shoulder saying, ‘Give Tylenol. Do this. Do that.’ My partner and I put our brains together, assess the patient and treat the patient.” Barbara Coffel, RN, MSN, CNS, is


a pediatric flight nurse with Indiana University Health LifeLine. She pursued the career more than 20 years ago when


Barbara Coffel Indiana University Health LifeLine


her son, then 10, suffered recurrent cerebral aneurysms and needed to be transported to Riley Hospital for Children. “You have the ability to really make a


difference — to make a huge difference — especially when we’re talking about babies,” she said. “The things you do in the first 5 or 10 minutes can make all the difference in the world in terms of the outcome.” That level of responsibility might


intimidate some nurses, but not Joe Ruley, RN. A career with the Samaritan Flight Program, a service of Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, is ideal for this former emergency-room nurse, who also is a license as a private pilot. He now splits his time between on-site trauma cases, such as traffic accidents, and hospital-to-hospital transfers.


“This year, the one that’s been most memorable


was a little baby, about 3 months old, who was post-op with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a very serious defect. He was in heart failure and incredibly


sick.We spent most of the flight on our knees working with him. “It became abundantly clear that we had to get him somewhere they


could do something more definitive for him. Riley is the only level-one pediatric trauma center in the state, so we made the phone call and asked to have all the players in place when we arrived. That was going to make a big difference in his survival. He ended up doing pretty well in the long run.”


12 Indiana Nursing Quarterly • indystar.com/nursing • Fall 2011


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