Paramedics ready to take flight

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — For the past two days, area paramedics and nurses have been training for their flight paramedic certification.

“I thought I’d never get here and after all these years I’m finally here,” Ray Hall said.

Hall has been a pilot and ground paramedic for 19 years, but now he says he is moving forward with his career.

“I first started flying because of my family most of my family are military or pilots,” Hall said. “My first college degree was in aviation. My goal has always been to combine my flying career and my paramedic career.”

This course is meant to prepare ground paramedics and nurses for working on patients en route to the hospital in a helicopter. Now Hall is a step closer to that goal.

“I understand a lot better after being on the ground what the ground crews do,” Hall said. “I think that’ll help, really help me in the future coming in as a flight paramedic or even a pilot.”

Instructor Corey Pittman said flight paramedics are crucial, especially in our area.

“We have rural areas that could, by ground, take a hour or hour and half at the extreme to bring a patient to the tertiary care facility,” Pittman said.

Flight medics say helicopter transport is on average one-third the time of ground transport.

“Straight direct to the trauma center, straight to the scene is definitely life-saving,” Pittman said. “We certainly know that time is life-saving.”

Saving lives that begins at takeoff.

“It’s a great career,” Hall said.

The New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s two air-link helicopters serve seven counties and make anywhere from 75 to 80 flights a month.