MARIETTA, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News was the only television station who got on board Georgia’s newest medical helicopter. The crew previewed the lifesaving medical equipment they have on board to save lives.
Channel 2’s Jorge Estevez took a flight with the team to give you a feel for what it’s like.
Aircare 2 is Wellstar’s newest helicopter. They’re going to be taking patients all across Georgia now, and medical teams inside will be saving lives until they get to a hospital.
“So everything that you see in an emergency department, an ICU room, we do it in this aircraft,” said Alisha Covington, one of the crew on board.
“Aircare is able to reduce the time it takes us to get you to your definitive destination. So, a Level 1 trauma center, a stroke center, pediatric center, wherever,” Covington said.
Covington graduated from nursing school and years of training as a nurse and paramedic.
“I get to live the dream every day,” she said.
Now she joins a team, gliding over Georgia to Wellstar’s 11 hospitals. But now with the additional helicopter they can take critical patients in the state and parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
“As we get rid of that patient and drop them to that hospital where they’re going to get the care they need, we’re ready to go pick up our next patient,” Covington said.
The equipment on board allows them to do blood work or perform an ultrasound. They have a breathing tube to intubate.
And they respond to crashes, landing in the middle of the chaos, when patients are critical and every decision matters.
“You have to have that trust with your partner and your coworkers that it’s me and you back here. What can we do together to take care of those patients?” Covington said.
And as a new mom herself to 6-month-old baby Steven, Covington gets how important the work is and remembers one call in particular.
“She was just so thankful and so appreciative and all. All she kept saying was, ‘Save my baby. Take care of my child,’” she said.
So once they land at a hospital, their work is done. Ashley, Alicia and Mark move on to the next patient.
They work like firefighters, 24-hour shifts at a base. When that call comes in, they drop everything and go.
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