Lifting medical care to new heights

Since 1974, Americans have celebrated Emergency Medical Services Week to show gratitude for the hard work and sacrifices of EMS personnel. It was originally set in the first week of November, but was changed to the third week of May in 1992.

Wes Skarda of Afton has been a nurse since 1993. In 2012 he began working for the air medical service LifeNet in Clarinda. That location was shut down in April of last year, and he switched to LifeFlight Des Moines in July.

Skarda said they flew many covid patients to Des Moines during the pandemic. LifeFlight was in high demand, with one of few aircraft to have a high flow oxygen ventilator. This special ventilator allowed patients to avoid incubation.

Emergency air medical service links facilities with a higher-level of care to smaller hospitals, such as Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston. Greater Regional has a helicopter landing pad.

“Union County is blessed with having a really strong first responder and EMS presence,” Skarda said. “I’m very impressed with the level of knowledge and expertise that the county has.”

In a rural area, LifeFlight often lands in the middle of farm fields or on dirt roads. Sometimes a helicopter is on standby for car crashes with suspected severe injuries while dispatch is notifying ambulance crews about the wreck. It is common for a helicopter to not be needed as ambulance crews assess the injured people.

LifeFlight has three bases in western Iowa: Des Moines, Fort Dodge and Audubon. Skarda said the Carroll base was recently moved to Audubon “to better serve western Iowa.” They have four pilots for each base working 12 hour day and night shifts, with the two pairs alternating weekly. Correspondents at a radio tower advise the pilots on what altitude to fly at based on weather conditions and other factors. The pilots have to keep an eye out for birds.

Every flight includes a nurse, paramedic and pilot. When needed, the patient wears a radio headset to communicate with the nurse and paramedic because of the helicopter’s engine noise.

The helicopters travel at a cruising speed of 130-140 knots, about 150 miles per hour. A flight from Creston to Des Moines takes 20-25 minutes. The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics is the only Iowa hospital with a burn unit. A flight from Creston to Iowa City only takes about 50 minutes.Some burn victims and other patients in the western parts of Iowa are flown to St Elizabeth Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Jerrica Moon has been a nurse for 16 years, eight of them with LifeFlight. She said she does 5-10 flights per week, and that it varies greatly.

In 1979, LifeFlight became Iowa’s first air medical service provider. In the late 2000s they converted to the EC 145 helicopter, one of the largest used in the state.

Despite this Moon described the difficulty of, “working in a very small space.” She said that unlike an emergency room, there’s no room to stand up and walk around the patient. She’s either sitting in a seat, or on her knees working on a patient. Sometimes the sun shines directly in her eyes.

Moon said there’s also no ER doctor, so they follow a set of protocols. Occasionally they call the accepting physician for additional guidance.

“It’s a 24 hour business. So you’re up during the day, you’re up during the night,” Moon said. “When they call you go, never knowing when that call is gonna come and what that call is going to be.”