North Carolina AirCare Team Wins National Competition

March 27--Four flight paramedics with Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's AirCare Critical Care Transport Services won a national competition last month for professional emergency medical services teams.

Roger Horton, Barry McMillian, Robert Coleson and Justin Bowers, placed first in the Journal of Emergency Medical Services 2017 Games Advanced Clinical Competition, in Salt Lake City at the end of February. The competition included 24 teams from across the country and around the world and was the second-straight victory for AirCare.

Scoring in the competition was based on how well the teams provided quality, compassionate and efficient care to multiple patients during a high-stress mass casualty simulation. In the final round, the Wake Forest Baptist AirCare team was dispatched to a scenario involving several victims on snowmobiles who were severely injured in an avalanche.

"Since we don't really see avalanches here in North Carolina, this particular scenario was quite different for our crew," AirCare program manager Billy Haynes said in a press release. "This just proves that the dedicated employees of AirCare are always ready to deliver world-class patient care despite whatever challenges or obstacles they may encounter."

An AirCare crew consists of a pilot, a Wake Forest Baptist paramedic and a Wake Forest Baptist flight nurse, each tasked with transporting adult and pediatric patients with a variety of conditions, including trauma, cardiac, stroke and burns.

Upon arrival to a scene, crew members provide initial treatment to a patient and are usually back in the air en route the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem within 10 minutes. Crew members are able to maintain contact constant with physicians and emergency room staff throughout a response.

In November 2010, AirCare 1, an EC-135 helicopter, was stationed at the Davidson County airport. In 2011, AirCare 2 was added and stationed at Elkin Municipal Airport in Surry County. In 2012, AirCare 3 was added and is housed at Blue Ridge Regional Airport in Henry County, Va.

AirCare responds to calls from first responders and hospitals 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The helicopter is in the air within 10 minutes of receiving a call and the crew is in direct radio contact with EMS personnel at the scene or the physician at the referring hospital.

Since 1986, AirCare has transported more than 20,000 patients and currently averages around 1,100 flights a year.

Mat Batts can be reached at (336) 249-3981, ext. 227, or at mat.batts@the-dispatch.com. Follow Mat on Twitter: @LexDispatchMB

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