While Flight Care EMS helicopter service has been in operation for 30 years, it has come to St. Charles Parish as of March 1 of this year.
The Ochsner Flight Care service provides emergency transport for critically ill and injured patients of all ages.Staffed with two pilots and two registered nurses, or one nurse and a paramedic. The crews are trained in EMS procedures and equipped to address both medical and trauma situations not all ground crews are trained to handle.
“We provide a higher level of critical care from the moment we make contact with a patient,” said Ian Nygren, program director for Ochsner Flight Care.
The Flight Care nurses and paramedics hold certifications in basic life support, as well as advanced life support. In addition, they are trained in pediatric advanced support and neonatal resuscitation.
The helicopter is an EC-135P2+ and made available to the Flight Care Team through its recent partnership with Med-Trans, according to Nygren. It’s equipped with latest aircraft technology, safety equipment and features. it offers night vision goggles, radar altimeter, GPS navigation satellite tracking and communications. It also has helicopter terrain alert warning systems, or HTAWS.Staged at the Lakefront Airport in New Orleans, the helicopter can be at St. Charles Parish Hospital, to meet ground transport, in eight to 10 minutes. Its crews work 12-hour shifts and the helicopter, known as Rescue -1 New Orleans, is on call 24 hours a day.
Dr. Jeffery Kuo, Flight Care medical director, is a 1996 graduate of Hahnville High School.
Kuo takes pride in being a part of this program for more than just professional reasons.
“It’s so humbling to provide and give back to my community,” he said. “St. Charles Parish has done so much for me I’m thrilled to be able to do something for it.”
Both Kuo and Nygren said they have the same goal in mind when it comes to serving the public not just of St. Charles Parish, but the country and the world.
“We are here to serve the patients,” they said. “To get the sick and injured to the closest facility possible, even if it’s not an Ochsner facility, just so long as they get the care they need when they need it most.”
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