A U.S. Air Force UH-1 Huey crew from Eglin AFB airlifted a two-month-old with an arterial blood clot when civilian options were unavailable due to storms.
Paramedic Jared Schultz and nurse Renee Hamilton monitored the infant’s vitals and carefully managed arm positioning throughout the challenging 2½-hour flight.
The child arrived safely at the hospital, went directly into surgery, and her limb was successfully saved.
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — The baby could lose her arm.
That was the call to action that prompted two 96th Test Wing units to team up for a critical life flight mission July 23.
A two-month-old with an arterial blood clot that threatened her limb needed to fly from Sacred Heart on the Emerald Coast in Miramar Beach to the University of Florida Shands Hospital in Gainesville for a higher level of care. Thunderstorms throughout the Florida panhandle and crew limitations provided no civilian transport options.
The 96th Medical Group and the 413th Flight Test Squadron stepped up to the challenge after receiving the alert from the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.
Jared Schultz, a 96th MDG paramedic, and the 413th FLTS’s UH-1 Huey aircrew flew to Pensacola to pick up Renee Hamilton, a Sacred Heart registered nurse, the baby and her mother.
“’The blades will not stop’ was the first instruction I received at the beginning of the mission,” said Hamilton, about her first life flight mission. “It was fascinating to think we only had time to get in and out of the aircraft while the blades moved. That showed the efficiency and effectiveness of the crew.”
Even though this was the first life flight for Hamilton, Eglin’s paramedic and aircrew had previous military casualty evacuation or combat search and rescue experience.
The UH-1, typically set up as a passenger aircraft, needed no special configuration or accommodation to complete its first flight.
“I have loaded several patients into other medevac helicopters,” said Hamilton. “Most have very little working space, but the military helicopter had plenty of room to work, if an emergency occurred.”
The crew’s biggest challenges were the landings, which brought the aircraft near powerlines and large structures as well as the top of the 11-story hospital building in downtown Gainesville. Fuel management was a constant factor as well for the team due to several flight deviations required to avoid the worst of the area’s bad weather.
“The ceiling and visibility dropped as low as 1,000 feet and two miles at times, due to heavy rain and clouds, but we could not risk flying into the clouds because of the thunderstorms,” said Maj. Richard Burges, 413th FLTS experimental test pilot. “However, we have significant experience in low visibility and low altitude flight in combat, which allow us to operate in challenging environments like we had that day.”
In the UH-1’s passenger area, Hamiliton monitored the baby’s intravenous medication with Schultz assisting. They monitored her vital signs as well as blood circulation in the affected arm for the two-and-a-half-hour flight.
“If her arm was in the wrong position, she would lose blood flow in that arm, and it would immediately turn purple,” said Schultz a former Air Force Special Operations Command casualty evacuation instructor, who volunteered for the mission. “Her arm needed continuous repositioning until I ultimately held it in one position for over half the flight.”
Maj. David Bennett, 413th FLTS test pilot, said there was tension about the flight due to the stakes involved, bad weather and the strangeness of their participation in this unique situation.
“The baby was so calm and quiet throughout the flight though,” said Bennett, who described flying his youngest passenger ever as one of his most memorable flying experiences. “It helped the atmosphere stay positive.”
Schultz said he was so focused on the patient he never noticed the weather or the time passing. When he finally looked up, the UH-1 was over Ben Hill Griffin Stadium better known as “The Swamp.”
Eglin’s crew got the child to the hospital safely, and she went directly into the operating room there.
“It was so great to see that little girl enjoy her first helicopter ride,” said Burges, an HH-60 CSAR pilot. “She was happy and content whenever we were flying and cried her eyes out when we landed and shutdown. I suspect we have a new helicopter pilot coming our way in the next couple of decades.”
The last report the team received was that the child was fine and the limb was saved.
“The timeliness of transporting our pediatric patient to a facility with a higher level of care was invaluable,” said Katie Summers, the patient’s primary nurse on that day. “As nurses, we value all patients, and even more so our most vulnerable pediatric patients. The fact that we can rely on our military service members to safely and efficiently fly our patients in their most critical moments is something we treasure.”
The flight home proved almost as harrowing as the first half as the storms intensified later in the day and ultimately, the team landed in Alabama due to aircrew duty day requirements. The day ended quite different for the Airmen than they could have ever anticipated upon arriving to Eglin that morning.
“As test pilots, we’re typically a little removed from the operational impact of our work, so it’s always wonderful to be able to directly contribute to something that has immediate effect on a person’s life,” said Burges. “Helping people this way is, without question, the best part of the job and why I became a helicopter pilot.”
Pro Communi Bono
St. Francis De Sales, Ora Pro Nobis!
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