Imagine the stress of working in hospital emergencies – now add thousands of feet in the air.
It is the daily work of a Ehs Flight of life Nurse in intensive care.
Samantha Kennedy has won her wings for years working in the emergency room, but now she divides her time between the Halifax infirmary and the airport.
And when an appeal enters, she says that the Lifeflight team can be in the sky within 10 minutes.
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“On the helicopter, we can sit on both sides of our patients, so that we can work and have access to both sides,” explains Kennedy.
“So it seems a little more comfortable and a little easier to do with procedures if we needed them.”
These procedures can range from the supply of medical ventilation to the insertion of the chest tube.
But the flight nurses are not supposed to do these medical interventions solo – Lifeflight strengthens a nurse with a paramedical ambulance to play with the forces of each.
Joel Connolly is an experienced ambulancer with more than 10 years of service in the field.
“Logistically, it can be very difficult,” he says. “It is very different from an ambulance. You can draw an ambulance and make changes; you cannot draw a helicopter, an airplane. So there is a lot of planning in advance.”
Planning is made possible thanks to training simulators, such as that of the Lifeflight EHS hangar.
Watch the video above for the full story.
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