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PAGE 2, DECEMBER 6, 2010, THE ISLANDER
It’s the only way to fly - Air Evac
By Pamela Permar Shierling
Air Evac Lifeteam landed, literally,
in Glynn Comity in September of this
year.
Air Evac, which provides medical
airlifts by helicopter, began in West
Annual membership fees are $50
for a one member household; $55 for a
two member household; $60 for three
or more member household. Three and
five year memberships are also avail-
Glynn County Air Evac team front row from left: Pilot Tom Gaffney, Flight
Medic Jean Cook, Marketing Director Janice Gendreau, Flight Nurse
Charles Wilson, Flight Nurse Brian Vickers, and Flight Medic Gail Terry.
Back row left to right: Pilot Seth Zaluski, Flight Medic Mike Siggers, Pro
gram Director Tony Sumrow, and Base Mechanic Craig Eichhorn.
Plains, Missouri 25 years ago, and
today is America's largest indepen
dently owned air ambulance service.
A group of West Plains citizens, who
realized the medical need for speedy
transport after the death of another
citizen, went door to door and sold
enough memberships to purchase the
first helicopter, Air Evac I.
Air Evac is located in rural areas
where there is no trauma level one
facility.
Currently, Air Evac has 96 service
locations in 14 states including six loca
tions in Georgia: Waycross, Cordele,
Statesboro, Vidalia, LaGrange and
Brunswick. Any of the Georgia loca
tions can back up Brunswick should
more than one flight at a time be
required.
"Our mission," said Janice Gen
dreau, Air Evac marketing director, "is
to get critically ill or injured patients to
the closest and most appropriate medi
cal care quickly."
"Getting the patient where he/she
needs to be as quickly as possible gives
the patient a greater chance of survival
or complete recovery," she said.
Air Evac is manned 24/7 including
an on call flight mechanic. The heli
copter stays on the pad at Southeast
Georgia Health System, Brunswick
Campus, and the on call crew stays in
a house close by.
Each Air Evac flight carries the
pilot, a flight nurse and a flight para
medic.
Air Evac is a membership organiza
tion and, while they do take assign
ments from insurance companies, if an
Air Evac member uses the air ambu
lance service, they never receive a bill.
able.
"An estimated cost to use Air Evac's
service from Brunswick to Jackson
ville or Brunswick to Savannah would
range from $15,000 to $18,000," Janice
said.
"Each flight is so different. Cost
depends on the length of the flight and
the in-flight treatment required," she
said.
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"We can help
people avoid
financial disaster
after a trauma,"
she continued.
"Members don't
have to pay and
they don't have
to deal with an
insurance com
pany."
Everyone who
works for Air
Evac believes in
what they do.
Take Air Evac
paramedic Gail
Terry for example.
In 1991 Gail lived in a rural area of
Connecticut. Her son had open heart
surgery five days after he was born.
At eight weeks, at home, he went into
cardiac arrest. "I gave him CPR for
eight long minutes while waiting for
the paramedics," Gail said.
"We were not near the hospital and
the local EMS dispatched the helicopter
and he was life flighted to the hospital.
The paramedics defibrillated him twice
while they were still on the ground and
once in the air," she said.
"When he got to the hospital, the
doctor told me he was so critical that I
should make funeral arrangements."
"My son survived because of the
quick flight and the continuous treat
ment during the flight," she said. "The
doctor told me that he would not have
made it if he hadn't received treatment
during the entire trip."
Her son graduated from high school
June 2009 and is a freshman in col
lege.
"That event inspired me with a driv
ing desire to help people. I earned a
bachelor's degree and master's degree.
I became an EMT and then a para
medic."
"I spent 14 years working as a para
medic on the ground but had a driving
desire to fly. Now I am working my
dream-come-true job with Air Evac in
Brunswick."
Air Evac also participates in early
activation which means they fly the
helicopter directly to the scene.
"We have trained emergency per
sonnel who know how to clear a ground
area and prep the area for the helicop
ter to land," Janice said.
Air Evac facts: over 200,000 safely
flown flights; 800,000 plus members;
1,000 nurses, medics and pilots profes
sionally trained for emergency medical
situations.
For information about Air Evac or to
join call 912-403-0848. □
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