Careful planning goes in to each mission

I want to thank The Herald for its coverage of our recent operation to assist the fire districts in rescuing an injured climber who fell while climbing the Index town wall (“Climbing fall near Index injures man,” April 4, Local News). I am concerned that the description of the events may create the impression that the air operation was simply a matter of tying a “gurney” to the end of a rope and “dangling” the subject in a careless manner all the way to Harborview Hospital.

Please be assured that a careful risk assessment goes into every mission we fly. In this particular case, fire personnel from several departments responded to the request for aid and hiked to the accident scene with their equipment. They did a full medical assessment of the subject. His fall was so severe that his climbing helmet was split in half.

When we arrived to assist, he had been carefully assessed and secured to a backboard and a litter by the fire personnel. A conference was held with the fire medic to determine the best course of action to take. A Helo Response Team member hiked to the site to coordinate the short-haul operation and to fly out attached to the litter to provide patient care while in flight. He double-checked the litter rigging and then the subject’s litter was placed into a special patient-packaging device that attaches the litter to the short-haul line with eight separate contact points. To reduce the risk to the subject, short-haul operations are kept as short as possible.

It is important for the public we serve to understand that we go to tremendous lengths to ensure the safety of the patients we deal with. The members of the Air Ops team commit to hundreds of hours of training to perform their jobs in the field while under very stressful conditions. I just want to reassure your readers that if they ever need our services, they are placing themselves in good hands and that their safety, as well as our own, is our primary concern.

Snohomish County Air Operations

Helo Response Team Coordinator

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