MedFlight conducts open house

This MedFlight helicopter is stationed at the Nevada Municipal Airport. In addition to an EMS pilot the helicopter is staffed with a critical care flight nurse and a critical care flight paramedic. They are equipped with a wide range of critical care medical equipment, including: monitor/defibrillator and external pacing capabilities, and emergency and maintenance drugs. --Ralph Pokorny/Daily Mail

"I think this will be a perfect marriage for us. We have a 24-hour security system at the airport now at no cost to us," Monte Curtis, airport board chairman, said Thursday during the open house for the St. John's MedFlight Nevada base at the Nevada Municipal Airport.

He said that they serve an area within a 75-nautical-mile radius of Nevada; and, being based in Nevada, they are 22 minutes closer than any other air service.

Curtis said that he had been told that in emergency medicine seconds count, so minutes really count.

"Nothing's different than before, except a 22-minute start," he said.

Curtis told the crowd that until today the crew has been living in the conference room at the airport terminal building and that when you live with someone, you get to know them pretty well.

"Both Jody Bryson (airport manager) and I will tell you they are a great bunch of guys and gals.

"They do take their jobs seriously," he said.

Darin Hamlin, MedFlight paramedic, visits with Alicia Dean, a student ride-along from Lenapah, Okla., during the MedFlight open house, Thursday, at the Nevada Municipal Airport. Hamlin, who has been with MedFlight since January 2006, previously had 13 years experience with a ground ambulance service in Independence, Kan. He said that the concept is the same as a ground ambulance, but it is different. "We're faster, that is the biggest factor," Hamlin said. "There are no stop signs and we don't have to wait for slow traffic," he said, adding that there a few procedures they can do that are not done in a ground ambulance. Crews also undergo constant training and updates. --Ralph Pokorny/Daily Mail

Dottie Bringle, St. John's vice president-patient care and chief nursing officer, said that St. John's started the MedFlight service in 1992 to serve the four-state area and to provide more rapid access to health care.

"The Nevada base adds rapid access to tertiary care," she said.

Bringle said that the MedFlight served the four-state area for 16 years from Joplin.

During those 16 years MedFlight has logged more than 2 million accident-free miles and has transported more than 9,200 patients.

The service is currently owned by Air Methods Corporation, which is the largest air medical emergency transport service and system in the world.

Patti Klein, Air Methods central region medical services director, said that they have a partnership with St. John's for 10 years.

"This is the strongest partnership of any we have because of their dedication to providing service," Klein said.

"The success of the program is the sum of the energy of all participants," she said.

The MedFlight program is licensed as an air ambulance in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma and is accredited through the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems.

Klein said that they have continuous training and they continue to exceed the standards of their accreditation.

"We take our commitment to the town very seriously and are proud to be a part of the community," she said.