STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Members of Air St. Luke’s medical transport helicopter team were still getting settled in at their new home at St. Luke’s Wood River when dispatch relayed that a Carey man had suffered a heart attack.

Rushing to their helicopter sitting on a pad atop the hospital near Ketchum, they were able to reach the man in 12 minutes, avoiding what would have been an hour-long 40-mile drive. The helicopter took him to Twin Falls where a doctor was able to open a blocked blood vessel, preventing the “widowmaker” from taking his life.

“We’re here for time-sensitive emergencies where every minute means the difference between life and death,” said Blaine Patterson, director of Emergency Medical Services for Air St. Luke’s. “Before, we would have received a call from the fire department and we would have had a 32-minute flight from Twin Falls or a 34-minute minute flight from Boise just to get here.”

Flight Nurse Becky Myers prepares what is a mobile ICU unit in the sky.

St. Luke’s administrators decided to dedicate a full-time medical transport team to St. Luke’s Wood River following a letter from Blaine County commissioners exploring the possibility of bringing Air St. Luke’s or the Life Flight Network to the valley.

Both committed, with Life Flight taking up residence outside of Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey and Air St. Luke’s at the hospital.

Nine certified care members have begun this month, and four pilots have been training,  learning how to navigate tricky mountain winds while getting the lay of the land. A fifth pilot based in Twin Falls will be available to cover shifts, as well.

The team includes five nurses and five paramedics, who are available to help in the hospital emergency department when not out on call.

Tim Allen is one of five pilots, including one based in Twin Falls, that have been training to fly through mountain passes in the Sun Valley area.

“We are committed to being here,” said Patterson.

Patterson is a Wood River Valley native, having grown up in Carey. He joined the town’s EMS services as a volunteer after a first responder saw him at a high school basketball game and asked if he would like to give it a try.

“In 1987 I was volunteer EMS when I saw a helicopter land near Little Wood Reservoir and I said, ‘I want to do that,’ ” he recounted.

Patterson attended paramedic school and worked with Wood River Fire and Rescue in the early 1990s. He started flying for Saint Alphonsus’ Life Flight in 2007, then switched to Air St. Luke’s.

Tim Allen has plenty to look at on the control panel.

He directs Air St. Luke’s out of an interim room on the first floor of the hospital while the hospital builds a hanger and pad on the north edge of its parking lot. Air St. Luke’s is currently traveling in every morning and evening from either Boise or Twin Falls with the goal of being fully operational at its St. Luke’s Wood River base by January 2026.

The new pad and hangar will improve safety as paramedics won’t have to access icy and, sometimes, blizzardy conditions on the roof. Either remote control or a tractor will be used to pull and push the 7,000-pound helicopter in and out of the hanger. Paramedics will be able to keep their medical bags in the new facility and sleep there during their 24-hour shifts.

Air St. Luke’s twin-engine Bell 429 is the crème de la crème of medical helicopters because of its speed, power and safety, Patterson said.

It can fly at higher altitudes and with more weight. It performs better than other type of helicopters in winter cold and summer heat. Designed for rugged terrain, it can land in tight, remote locations.

Blaine Patterson follows his crew to the twin-engine 429 Bell helicopter.

It can carry five people, meaning that it can take a family member of the patient, a fellow hiker who would otherwise be left alone in the backcountry or even a second patient.

It is equipped with advanced lifesaving technology, including ventilators, cardiac monitors and infusion pumps, enabling nurses to perform ICU-level care enroute to the hospital. It also can carry whole blood taken out of a blood bank stored in the hospital’s downstairs refrigerators and freezers.

Not many helicopters can carry whole blood, Patterson said, because it expires so quickly.

Since setting up shop in Ketchum, the helicopter crew has responded to a variety of backcountry calls, including that of a disoriented hiker who was found lost in Camas County and an ATV that tipped over and rolled backwards.

They responded to an injured hunter near the rugged Swede Peak area, getting to him in eight minutes from the time they were dispatched. It would have taken paramedics an hour and 45 minutes just to get to the trailhead via dirt roads and then they would have had to hike three miles in with significant elevation gain.

Tim Allen is one of the pilots, chosen from 40 applicants for five positions. He’ll be working 12-hour shifts seven days on and seven days off.

Allen is ready to pull up off the rooftop within 7 to 8 minutes of receiving a call.

“I’m a taxi driver driving a mobile ICU,” he quipped. “We’re in the business of time. We get places fast—it’s like driving a fast car at 170 miles per hour. I love getting there as fast as possible and as safe as possible. And I’m glad to come to work because I know I’m going to be helping people.”

While on shift, Allen is constantly monitoring wind speed and direction, utilizing a weather station outside the hospital and other weather sources. The copter can’t fly in a whiteout or freezing rain, which ices its rotors, which measure 36 feet from one side to another.

While paramedics and nurses are loading the copter, Allen is punching coordinates in on his Garmin GPS navigation system. He’s also adding up the weight of the nurses, the patient, the fuel, even the 32-pound medical bags that paramedics take with them.

“If we don’t like the weather, we leave the helicopter on the pad. We’re not putting ourselves and patients in harm’s way,” he said. “But, hopefully, we can be there on someone’s worst day and we can make a difference.”

St. Luke’s looks for level-headed, experienced pilots who are night-flying and night vision goggle-certified. They must be able to navigate a variety of situations, including flying in areas along the Salmon River near Challis when campfires from hunters are illuminating the valley accented by a glow from clouds above.

“We got applications from around the country,” said Patterson. “It’s easy to recruit pilots because they want to be here. They’re experienced pilots excited about the challenges of flying in the mountains and being able to live in the mountains where they can ski, hike and mountain bike when not on duty.”

Flight Nurse Becky Myers has been a nurse for 25 years; she’s wanted to be a flight nurse her entire life.

“As a flight nurse, you get to fly, and you get to be at the top of your game performing crucial care,” said Myers, who realized her dream of becoming a flight nurse five years ago.

Myers recalled a case when she was flying a patient from Mountain Home to Boise for  bladder surgery when the patient began suffering from complications.

“I asked the doctor whether he might be bleeding out, and the doctor said he hadn’t thought of that,” she recounted. “As a flight nurse, we can do advanced procedures like intubation. We’re more autonomous since we don’t have a doctor standing there. That’s what I love.”

Flight Nurse Landon Nistler grew up in an outdoorsy place and, so, jumped at the chance to join Air St. Luke’s.

“It’s awesome to be part of this team and I love that I get to work in fun cool places,” said Nistler, who has worked in Southern Oregon, Park City, Salt Lake City and Jackson Hole. “I like being outside getting to help someone with a medical emergency, whether they’re at Galena Lodge or Redfish Lake.”

Working on a helicopter medical crew is comprised of moments of sheer boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror, said Patterson.

The key is being prepared, and that means checking the gear upon starting a shift.

“Someone’s going to need you at your best so you’re in uniform, making sure everything’s where it needs to be.”

The peak hours typically occur between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. And, yes, there’s a seasonal dip in cases during fall.

“There’s a seasonal dip everywhere as we come off the 100 deadliest days of the year,” Patterson said. “With the onset of cold weather people tend to stay inside.

Both Air St. Luke’s and Life Flight have been conducting training flights for crews and pilots, in addition to training with local EMS agencies. The frequency of those flights is expected to decrease in coming weeks as operations normalize.

Air St. Luke’s has a friendly arrangement with Life Flight, Patterson said. Whichever one is closest heads to the scene.

Life Flight Network may bring patients to St. Luke’s Wood River, but Air St. Luke’s is the primary provider of interfacility transfers. Life Flight will be used for interfacility transfers in time-sensitive emergencies if Air St. Luke’s is not available.

Air St. Luke’s also provides fixed wing and ground transport with the method of transportation depending on the patient’s condition and weather conditions and where the patient is being transported to

“We both drew a line in the sand. We’re here to stay,” Patterson said. “We honor each other’s membership, although our membership fee is lower—just $65 a year for a family. And, if you ride horses or ATVs, memberships are advisable!”

The Air St. Luke’s crew has to look no further than the hospital itself to find people who can say they’re alive because of helicopter transport. Among them, Robert Morrison, who provides maintenance and security for the hospital. He suffered a heart attack a few years ago.

“They flew me to Saint Al’s, and if it hadn’t have been so quick, I would’ve died,” he said. “It took seven months in recovery, but I am just so grateful to be alive.”