While Life Flight Network personnel must receive permission to leave the immediate helicopter area and the crews aren’t trained to extract or carry victims any great distance through rough terrain, they can immediately administer aid and transport if the patient is nearby and easily reached. Where Life Flight Network takes patients depends on the patients’
needs. Cardiac patients are flown directly to Walla Walla, the closest cardiac intervention center. Automobile accident victims typically go 75 miles north to Richland or Kennewick, Washington, or south to Boise, Idaho. Stroke victims will be taken to the closest facility with CT or thrombolytics capabilities, which includes most critical-access hospitals. “We can’t bypass a facility with an appropriate level of care, but we
can be asked to stand by while a patient is stabilized so we can provide further transport,” says Benjamin. “Te hospitals in this region do a really good job of using the resources they have to determine when to send patients on.” Although the majority of Life Flight Network’s flights entail inter-
facility transport to higher-level hospitals, a helicopter is often requested to respond to accident scenes and other ambulance calls, says Benjamin. “We would rather be en route to help get service to the patient as
quickly as possible,” he explains. “We’re equipped with more lifesaving equipment on board than most ground services. We can meet an
ambulance on the way or at the hospital, shortening the time to the final medical facility.” Life Flight Network’s vital role in rural community health care extends
beyond airlift capabilities alone. Te team participates in Grande Ronde’s annual mass-casualty drill, helping to streamline and identify ways to improve procedures for such an event. Life Flight Network also trains the hospital’s emergency teams on hot load and unload procedures, helping shave further precious minutes off transport time. When the weather closes in and the helicopter is grounded, Life
Flight Network continues to support advanced care. Te service’s nurses and medics often go with local ground-transportation partners on critical calls when the helicopter can’t respond. “Te Life Flight Network medical teams’ skills are much more
advanced than those [of the responders] on board our partner ground-transportation services,” Grande Ronde’s Brock says. “With them, we can provide an even higher level of service than otherwise, even if we have to go by ground. “Rural communities are special in that the relationships we develop
between our transport and medical partners are like no other,” Brock adds. “We know each other at a level that’s not common in larger communities, that allows us to improve process on a regular basis and share our resources to support our communities. Life Flight Network is a very big piece of that here in La Grande.”
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