VCU news

By Eric Peters

Members of VCU LifeEvac, the university’s helicopter transport program, participated this month in a mock accident in Isle of Wight County with area first responders and EMT students.

The event, which was a joint exercise between VCU LifeEvac, Smithfield Fire and Rescue and the Isle of Wight County Rescue Squad, was designed to build skills and teamwork among area first responders as well as teach the public what it takes to save lives.

“Learning where they expect us to fit into the cascade of public safety professionals on an incident such as this is vital to improving our performance, and in turn, improving outcomes,” said Jay Lovelady, LifeEvac interim chief flight nurse. “For example, our nurse and paramedic team needs to coordinate with the EMS provider taking care of the patient, who needs to coordinate with the fire department doing extrication, with the incident command and safety officer, who coordinates with the police, et cetera.”

The simulated accident recreated a head-on collision between two cars with victims trapped inside.

“For the EMT-Basic students that participated, it gave them time to ask questions that would normally be difficult. You can't stop a real accident or emergency to ask why certain things happen,” Lovelady said. “This was the best part of the event, seeing light bulbs turn on for the students.”

The VCU LifeEvac helicopter program serves the people of Central and Southside Virginia and portions of North Carolina 24 hours per day, seven days per week.  The program began operation in 2001 and is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Services (CAMTS).

All flight crew members have a background in emergency medicine and critical care and have undergone intensive, specialized training to become flight team members.  The team is composed of experienced flight nurses, flight paramedics and pilots.  Aviation services are provided by Air Methods Corporation.