FROM THE DESK OF THE EDITOR


I LOST MY FOCUS! When I transitioned into flying EMS


in the late 90s, I came from fire-rescue service. I thought it odd after being hired that my DOO lectured me at great length about not taking risks and to stay focused on what I was hired to do, which was to fly the aircraft. He worried that I would bring that fire-rescue “mission comple- tion” mentality into the cockpit. At the time, I felt it was the perfect


marriage. I knew the mean streets of EMS, having treated patients, set up land- ing zones, plus I had been a pilot in the region for years. Perfect fit, right? Or was it?


Not long after starting, I landed my


S76 helicopter on a head-on collision scene. In one vehicle were a mom and her six-month-old daughter. In the other vehicle was a drunken man. All were trapped and the Incident Commander (IC) estimated a 15 - 20 minute extrica- tion time. The IC told us that both patients should come out at nearly the same time, and we would fly them both to the trauma center. I shut down the heli- copter, configured for two patients, and waited for my crew to bring the patients. In a matter of minutes, Jeff, the


Flight Nurse, came back to the helicopter alone with the mom. She was crashing quickly. Knowing my background, he said, “Lyn, I need to get two IVs in her ASAP, can you set them up for me?” I glanced down the road and saw no one heading our way. Sensing Jeff was in deep, I replied, “No problem,” snapped on gloves, and hopped in the back of the helicopter to help. Shortly after the first IV was started and I was done setting up the second, to my surprise the other patient arrived at the side of the helicop- ter. My first thought was, Holy cow, where did they come from so quickly?


Then came my second thought, If I am back here, who is going to start the heli- copter? Doh! We all want to be part of the team.


Most of us have an innate desire to do what needs doing in order to get the mis- sion completed. After all, we are saving lives, right? Although a minor infraction of focus, I did nobody any favors by get- ting into the back of the helicopter. If anything, I delayed our departure by a minute or so. This is hard to hear, but an older,


wiser HEMS manager once said to me, “Lyn, when it comes to the decision mak- ing process during a HEMS flight, give no more consideration to the patient than you would to a bag of fertilizer.” He con- tinued, “Stay focused on your job as a pilot with the end goal not being to save a life, but to complete the flight within the limits of your skill, the OpSpecs, and your aircraft, so that the team can go home safely at the end of the shift. There is no reason to take unnecessary risks because – never forget – the patient can still make it to the hospital by ground ambulance!”


Fly Safe!


Lyn Burks, Editor In Chief


PUBLISHER Brig Bearden


brig@rotorcraftpro.com


EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Lyn Burks


lyn.burks@rotorcraftpro.com


CREATIVE DIRECTOR / PHOTOGRAPHER Dana Maxfield


dana@rotorcraftpro.com


MANAGER, ONLINE ACCOUNTS Lynnette Burks


lynnette.burks@rotorcraftpro.com COPY EDITOR


Rick Weatherford rick@rotorcraftpro.com


SOCIAL MEDIA GURU Jon Lash


CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Pam Fulmer


pam@rotorcraftpro.com CO-FOUNDERS


Clay Branum / Rick Weatherford CONTRIBUTING WRITERS


Rick Adams James Careless


Steve Goldsworthy Caterina Hessler Matt Johnson


Rotorcraft Pro®


Randy Mains Brad McNally Tim Pruitt


Randy Rowles Scott Skola


is published twelve times a year and


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2 October 2013


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