For the past 10 years, when time has mattered most for patients in the North Georgia Mountains, AirLife Georgia has helped close the distance between an emergency and lifesaving care with its Blairsville-based helicopter ambulance service.
AirLife Georgia commemorated its 10th anniversary here on Aug. 26 with a gathering at the Union County Farmers Market, bringing together past and current flight crew members, area leaders, first responders and community partners to recognize a decade of service.
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Among those gathered to celebrate the anniversary were partners who work alongside AirLife Georgia, including Union County Fire & Rescue, Union General EMS personnel and other community supporters.
Part of Air Methods LLC, AirLife Georgia provides critical care transportation throughout Blairsville and surrounding communities. Its helicopters function as flying intensive care units, staffed by registered medics and nurses trained to care for patients experiencing traumatic injuries, strokes and other medical emergencies.
The crew primarily serves Union and Towns counties in Georgia and Clay County, North Carolina, but will respond wherever it is needed. Importantly, the service is about more than simply getting a patient from one location to another.
Crews can provide advanced medical care during flight, including intubation, blood administration and certain surgical procedures such as chest tube placement. AirLife Georgia is one of only two bases in Georgia equipped to provide that level of care.
For Holly Murray, a Certified Flight Registered Nurse with AirLife Georgia, the relationships built over the past decade are one of the most meaningful parts of serving in a smaller community.
“We honestly feel really blessed with the community that we have,” Murray said. “A lot of our bases are in extremely large areas and very metro, and they don’t actually get to know their customers.
“Here, we have people come to the base; they come to the helicopter. You get to see the patients that you’ve flown afterwards. And we all feel very passionate about that, and that is something so special to this area. It makes us very different from other programs.”
For patients experiencing time-sensitive emergencies, the difference can be significant. According to Murray, a trip that could take approximately 75 minutes by ground over the mountains can take about 21 minutes by air.
AirLife GA 14, the helicopter based at Union General Hospital, is also equipped for Instrument Flight Rules, or IFR, allowing the crew to operate in challenging weather and limited visibility when conditions permit.
The base operates a Bell 407 helicopter, well suited for the terrain of the North Georgia Mountains. Its capacity can also allow crews, when safely permitted, to transport a parent alongside a child receiving care.
As medical technology continues to advance, so does the care AirLife Georgia can provide in the air. In the past two years, the crew has added equipment that allows a machine to perform chest compressions on patients, reducing the need for medics and nurses to perform compressions by hand during flight.
The helicopter carries other specialized equipment, including a ventilator and technology that enables crews to provide high-flow nasal cannula oxygen to pediatric patients.
For Murray and the rest of the crew, the anniversary was not only a celebration of the past 10 years, but also an opportunity to thank the community they serve.
“We are so thankful to be here, and we really feel honored to serve you guys,” Murray said. “We thank you for allowing us to be here and to help these customers and help our patients. We love how close we are in our relationships, so we are thankful to you for the 10 years and we’re hoping for many more.”
According to the company, “Air Methods is committed to providing air medical services to all members of the communities it serves and is in-network with most major health insurance providers across the country for emergency air medical services.
“Additionally, their patient advocacy program works with all patients, regardless of insurance, to ensure affordability while making pre-paid air medical membership unnecessary.”
