Medical Helicopter is First Based in Bowling Green, KY

Mar. 29--Flight paramedic Jamie Bardeen and flight nurse Donna Dearmond waited -- anxiously, they said -- Tuesday afternoon beside the red-white-and-blue helicopter on the grass at the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport.

They awaited the first call for Air Evac Lifeteam's new locally based helicopter, in service less than a day.

At 4: 50 p.m., Air Evac's area manager, Jason Ingram, came out of the office building just outside the airport perimeter, shouting, "We've got a flight!" The call had come to transfer a patient from Taylor County to the University of Louisville hospital.

Pilot Phil Bunch jogged out and had to clamber over the chain-link gate that airport employees had locked a few minutes before. He, Bardeen and Dearmond put on headsets and untied the rotor blade. Bardeen and Dearmond shared a stick of gum as they stood clear, waiting for the engine to start.

By 4:55 they were airborne, touching back down briefly to let a plane land on the nearby runway.

But while they were on their way, according to Air Evac public relations manager Julie Heavrin, the call changed: A child was hurt in a motorcycle crash on U.S. 231 near Alvaton.

So the Bell 206 helicopter changed direction, letting another Air Evac flight from Campbellsville go to Taylor County, while the Bowling Green team took the child to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville.

The grassy pad and disconnected office at the airport are only temporary.

Within a few months, Air Evac will have an office, living quarters and a hangar at The Medical Center.

"I think this makes good sense with the growth of population that we have experienced here in southeastern Kentucky," said Doris Thomas, vice president of marketing for Commonwealth Health Corp., which owns The Medical Center.

Previously, the closest medical helicopters were StatCare in Glasgow and the Air Evac unit in Hopkinsville, she said.

The company doesn't have a specific service contract with The Medical Center, Thomas said.

"When they are called to a scene, the Air Evac personnel will assess the scene to determine the appropriate level of care and transport the patient to the appropriate hospital," she said.

Typical criteria for calling Air Evac would be serious car crashes, trapped victims or head injuries, Thomas said.

"Lots of times when it's that situation, they need to be transported to a major trauma center," she said.

Dearmond said that if an accident produces several serious injuries, dispatchers will call for more helicopters from other Air Evac bases and other medical-flight services.

Each Air Evac crew consists of a pilot, a registered nurse and a paramedic, offering 24-hour service within a 70-mile radius, according to the company's announcement.

Air Evac already operates helicopters out of Albany, Campbellsville, Hopkinsville and Middlesboro.

The local Air Evac team consists of three nurses, three paramedics and four pilots, plus support staff and marketing, Dearmond said. A company news release says 12 to 15 employees will work here.

Medics are on duty for 24 hours, and pilots for 12, Bardeen said.

They will probably handle about 30 flights a month at the beginning, Ingram told Dearmond. Those are likely to be mostly hospital transfers, Dearmond said.

The helicopter carries as much emergency-room equipment as can be packed in, Bardeen said: basic supplies for pediatric and adult care, drugs, oxygen, splints, defibrillators, an EKG machine, a three-channel intravenous pump and suction systems.

When Air Evac arrived in Bowling Green, they immediately called area law enforcement and health-care services, not only for publicity but to get to know the people they'll be working with, Dearmond said.

State aircraft inspectors signed off on the Bowling Green service Monday, Bardeen said.