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Air Evac Lifeteam celebrates 10th anniversary

Members of the Air Evac Lifeteam No. 73 personnel are, from left: Mike Hughes, RN; Keith Cummings, pilot; Mike Conners, program director; Michelle Smith, sales manager; Janie Ward, regional director; Pathrusim Keaffaber, RN; Nic Iarossi, flight nurse; Julie Gotses, flight nurse; Tim Stanley, flight paramedic. (Photo by Bruce Crawford)

NEW MARTINSVILLE — The Wetzel Coounty Air Evac Lifeteam No. 78 base celebrated its 10th anniversary Oct. 19 with an open house and refreshments.

Located at 2 East Benjamin Drive in New Martinsville, the facility has 15 employees including flight nurses, flight paramedics, pilots, an aviation maintenance technician, a program director and a membership sales manager. Crews are on duty around the clock.

“We serve residents within a 70-mile radius of New Martinsville,” said Program Director Michael Conners. “Our employees live and work in the communities we serve and we are proud to be here.”

Conners said the Oct. 19 celebration was an opportunity for “folks to come in and see what we do and how we do it.”

The company averages a flight a day per base, he said. The Wetzel County Air Evac site has four full-time pilots, one on duty at all times, who work 12 hour shifts.

Air Evac’s Tim Stanley is awarded the Region 2 Flight Paramedic title for the month of August. Stanley is shown with flight nurse Mike Hughes and flight paramedic Joyce Raper. (Photo by Bruce Crawford)

A flight nurse and a flight paramedic also are on duty at all times.

“Sometimes we fly double nurse, so we have those three crew members on base at all times,” Conners said.

Conners said the base flies to Morgantown, Wheeling, Columbus, Pittsburgh, and even Cleveland.

Conners said that, thanks to agreements with Wetzel and Tyler counties, any of those counties’ residents can be flown out of their respective counties and other nearby areas for no charge.

“The county has it covered. All a person has to do is be a resident,” said Conners.

Full memberships cover Air Evac service in 48 states. Conners said that, including sister companies, coverage could extend to more than 320 bases across the nation.

Several personnel from the Air Evac base were available at the open house to share information about the service including future developments for the site.

Future developments include carrying blood. Over the next few weeks, the helicopter will begin carrying O positive and O negative blood types, along with liquid plasma. New initiatives, an approach to be as cost-effective for the consumer as possible, also include carrying antibiotics and devices to see if there is bleeding under the skull.

Pilot Keith Cummings discussed the site’s Bell 206LA helicopter. The Bell 206LA is known among of the safest of helicopters.

Air Evac in New Martinsville averages a flight a day. He said sometimes the site will go four or five days without a flight, but then there could be several on one day.

Cummings said the helicopter travels at 130 knots and can reach Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown from New Martinsville in about 30 minutes. Charleston is approximately 45 minutes away and Columbus is about 50 minutes away.

The aircraft undergoes daily checks and inspections every 100 and 300 hours. A blade costs $45,000 and blades are replaced every 2,000 hours. The engine is $250,000.

It requires 2,000 hours of flight time to pilot the helicopter. Cummings, an Army pilot, said this averages about 10 years of experience.

Two Air Evac No. 78 employees, Base Pilot Supervisor Brett DeGarmo and Flight Paramedic Michael Freeman, recently earned their 750th patient flight wings.

DeGarmo has been a helicopter pilot for 28 years and began working for Air Evac Lifeteam in January 2011.

The company’s safety initiatives were a big draw, he said.

“We were the first company to equip all air medical bases with Night Vision Goggles,” DeGarmo said. “Those are particularly helpful in our mountainous region.”

Freeman joined Air Evac in May 2008. Before joining Air Evac, he worked for Rural Metro Ambulance.

“Being able to help people is very rewarding to me,” Freeman said. “I also enjoy the expanded scope of practice and being able to provide a higher level of care than I could previously.”

Air Evac’s Tim Stanley earned the Region 2 Flight Paramedic title for August. Stanley works part-time at Air Evac 78 and full-time for Wetzel County EMS as a paramedic and training instructor.

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