Saving John Q. Public Citizens praise lifesaving air ambulance

     EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second article in a two-part series about ARCH Air Medical Service.

     Fear ratchets up a level to terror, and coherent thought freezes: That’s what happens when a loved one is critical enough to require immediate air medical transport to a trauma level hospital.

     Only later does gratitude join the parade of emotions, those who have experienced it say.

     Barbara Wilhelm, of Alton, vividly recalls her feelings 18 years ago when son Tristan, then 3 months old, was hospitalized for pneumonia. The family was new to the Staunton area at the time.

     "It is all so fresh in my mind," she said. "The hospital said our son only had a 25 percent chance of making it after he stopped breathing, that I had to decide on where he should be helicoptered to, and that I wouldn’t be able to fly with him."

     Staff at Staunton Memorial Hospital said Tristan needed to be transferred to either St. John’s Hospital in Springfield or Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, and Wilhelm chose Springfield, as it was closer to her parents’ home.

     "They called ARCH, and within minutes ARCH arrived, had him hooked up and ready to leave," Wilhelm said. "He stopped breathing two more times on the way to Springfield, and they got there in record time. It was just unbelievable the things they could do with the equipment they had on the helicopter, and this was in early 1986."

     Wilhelm said she has several grandchildren now, and her experience with ARCH has given her assurance that if anything happens to one of them, the technological advances on ARCH aircraft today give them an even better chance of getting the best of immediate care.

     "Tristan was diagnosed with a defective heart valve," Wilhelm said, "and I believe it’s because the hospital saw the need to call ARCH and the fact they responded and had him aboard all within a matter of minutes that he is alive today. They saved his life."

     ARCH Air Medical Service Inc. is the region’s only nationally accredited air medical program of its kind and has completed more than 36,000 missions since being formed 24 years ago. Headquartered in St. Louis, ARCH’s state-of-the-art system includes a fully computerized dispatch center, the country’s largest single fleet of BK-117 medical helicopters and a federally certified maintenance facility. Each air medical flight is staffed with qualified registered nurses, paramedics or specialists responding from one of ARCH’s six bases located in Warrenton, Mo., Sullivan, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., St. Louis, Sparta, Ill., and Litchfield, Ill.

     Moro resident Gail Moore knows from two perspectives about ARCH -- as a patient and as a mother of a patient.

     In 1998, her 2-year-old daughter, Emile Owens-Moore, was on antibiotics for pneumonia while the family was visiting friends in Ironton, Mo. The child’s fever spiked to 103 degrees and they immediately took her to an area emergency room, where she was treated with additional medication that only made the child worse. Her fever went to 105.4 and she went into seizures. ARCH was called to transfer her to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis.

     "By then I was bawling and throwing a fit; I couldn’t ride with her, and I knew my drive was going to be so long to reach that hospital," Moore said. "But the medical personnel on ARCH were awesome. They were so calm, and even placed an oxygen mask and heart monitor on her stuffed dog they allowed to accompany her on the helicopter. ARCH had a pediatrician on that flight, and by the time I reached the hospital two hours later, she was sitting up, and her fever had broken. It turned out she was allergic to the medication she had been taking and highly allergic to cats -- we had been around cats at our friends’ home."

     Three years later, Moore herself took a vital flight after she suffered a stroke in November 2001 while attending church service. She was first taken by ambulance to Alton Memorial Hospital.

     "When the hospital told me they needed to fly me to St. Louis, I really lost it, as I am afraid of flying and am definitely a ground person," Moore said. "But the people on ARCH told me I would be fine, they were so good and so comforting to me, just like they had been to my daughter. I know God saved my life, but if ARCH hadn’t been there to tend to me and transport me, I would have died."

     The Telegraph talked to many people in recent days whose families have been touched by the medical service. All of them said that it is a long drive to the hospital when other family members are going there by helicopter.

     For Carrollton resident Peggy Lakin, the drive seemed interminable -- one hour and 15 minutes from Carrollton to St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, where her husband Joe was flown after suffering severe head trauma in 1999.

     "While it was amazing how quickly ARCH had flown into (Thomas H.) Boyd Hospital to get Joe, and arrived in Springfield, I didn’t think I would ever get there," Lakin said.

     Joe Lakin had been taken by ambulance to Boyd Hospital after sustaining head trauma while trimming trees at his mother-in-law’s home. His intercranial pressure was so high, the hospital said he had to be flown to Springfield as soon as possible. The state helicopter that served the area at that time was on a flight, so Boyd staff immediately called ARCH.

     "I honestly believe if it had not been for ARCH getting there in record time, he would not have lived," Lakin said. "It seemed I had just finished telling the hospital that I agreed to call ARCH, and ARCH was landing."

     Joe Lakin was hospitalized from March 1 to mid-July 1999 and continued therapy for months after that, but recovered.

     "I am thankful that Boyd has emergency air medical transport available for their patients," Peggy Lakin said. "And I am thankful for ARCH. Their readiness, quickness and their compassion are something I will always be thankful for."

     ©The Telegraph 2003

First Article: Air ambulance saves seconds and lives.

Click here to read first article