Air Evac Lifeteam crew simulates airlift emergency at IW Monday

Iowa Wesleyan University student Rebecca Pacha feigned a gunshot wound to her shoulder and pelvis as Air Evac Lifeteam medics demonstrated for nursing students how to stabilize a patient before loading them into a helicopter for hospital transport.

Pacha wasn't really lying hurt in front of Nemitz Hall, however. She was a part of an emergency response simulation designed for nursing, criminal justice and forensic students to take part in on Monday, Sept. 24.

'I love that they love to do training, they love to teach,” said Teresa Meierotto, IW Asistant Professor of Nursing and Emergency Room nurse at Ft. Madison Community Hospital.

This is the first year Air Evac Lifeteam was invited to the university to do a simulation, a decision made after Meierotto realized students in the growing Criminal Justice Department could learn just as much from the opportunity as nursing students. The simulation came at no cost to the university.

The Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter landed shortly after 2 p.m. Monday in front of Nemitz Hall. Criminal justice students had already been led by Henry County Sheriff Rich McNamee in placing orange markers to create a 60-by-60 foot landing zone on the lawn of a residence hall on Main Street.

As the helicopter landed, medics instructed students and Iowa Wesleyan faculty and staff to only approach a helicopter from the front or sides to avoid the tail rotor, which they shut down for the simulation. The students broke off into groups, with nursing students taking off to the scene of the 'crime” after Sarah Job, RN and flight nurse, and Tiffany Vogler, flight paramedic.

At the scene, Job and Vogler quickly had students identify who was the point-of-contact person for each victim - the person who would explain the injuries quickly so the medics could jump right into crisis mode.

One of the students acting as point-of-contact told the medics that the first victim was without a pulse and not breathing.

'When you're performing rapid triage, those patients get tagged black immediately. Yes, she is the most critical, but when (a patient) is not breathing with no pulse and there are multiple victims, you need to focus your efforts on where you can do the most good,” Vogler explained, skipping over the patient she identified as 'deceased” and turning her full attention to the other patient.

It was determined that the second patient, Pacha, was breathing and alert with a gunshot wound to her left shoulder and left pelvis. As Meierotto stabilized Pasha's neck and spine, the paramedics got to work.

As Job and Vogler demonstrated to the IW students how important it is to establish good communication with a partner. They applied tourniquets where the patient's 'injuries” were and addressed the most life-threatening conditions first, going through the ABCs of checking her airway, breathing and circulation to make sure she was stable enough to transfer from point A to point B.

'The more verbal you can be with your partner, the more you can make sure there's nothing wrong with your patient,” Jobs said to the students.

The Air Evac Lifeteam can take patients from birth and older, but they do not transport patients in active code and rarely transport pregnant patients unless they're sure they're not in labor.

Job said if delivery is imminent, the pregnant patient is 'not going in my aircraft.” The patient's feet are toward the pilot's head, Jobs said, adding there's no feasible way to deliver a baby in an aircraft.

Back at the aircraft, pilot Tammie Gillette answered questions from criminal justice students. Pilots don't have to have medical backgrounds, Gillette said. 'My job is to fly the aircraft. We don't rush. We make a point to be steady and methodical about what we do,” she said, adding she has been a pilot for 13 years.

While the simulation was a drastic example as the team cared for a patient with multiple 'gunshot” wounds, Job said not all of their patients are super critical. A lot of rural hospitals, like Henry County Health Center, don't have some of the basic medical supplies they need, and patients have to be transferred to areas with more resources.

Although Job questions why they're taking those patients by helicopter, she said she looks around and asks herself, 'What does this hospital have to treat this patient? Nothing really. Not all our patients are trauma or post-code or near-death situations. The time constraint is why you fly,” she said.

Job enjoys simulations and teaching students because she thinks it gives them a new perspective, and air ambulances is a whole new type of nursing, she said.

Vogler likes teaching the students about the helicopter safety aspect of her job. 'Our company is structured around safety,” she said.

Both Job and Vogler agree that while saving lives is important, riding in a helicopter is pretty awesome.

'It's more than that,” Job continued. '(It's) being able to provide access to people who normally wouldn't have it. That time-critical access you provide can really make a difference.”