Campbell Riversa国际传媒檚 Technical Evacuation Advanced Aero Medical (TEAAM) base is up and running, with crews ready to respond quickly to emergencies in hard-to-reach places on Vancouver Island and the North Coast.

sa国际传媒淲hat we do is different than search and rescue and different than ambulance,sa国际传媒� said Miles Randell, president of TEAAM Aeromedical. sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 called sa国际传媒榤edically directed rescue.sa国际传媒� We marry the level of medical care with the ability to rescue someone.

sa国际传媒淎n example Isa国际传媒檒l give is that we can fly out, lower someone down on a long line, and if itsa国际传媒檚 a rolled over logging truck, not only can we provide advanced life support and critical medical care, but we can also provide the auto extrication,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淲e can cut the person out of that vehicle with the Jaws of Life. Then we can bring them up into the aircraft to fly direct to the most appropriate hospital.sa国际传媒�

The placement in Campbell River means that TEAAM can make good use of their two-hour-and-20-minute flight time before refuelling. At a speed of about 175 km/h, that puts the range of helicopters at around 400 km in any direction. Randell said their response time is about sa国际传媒渁 tenth of the time frame that it would take an ambulance to get someone out of those situations.sa国际传媒�

While the model is seen elsewhere in the world, Randell said there isnsa国际传媒檛 much like it in North America.

sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 quite a bit different than anything thatsa国际传媒檚 been done in Canada previously. In Switzerland they started doing this about 54 years ago. Australia and New Zealand are similar,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淲here we are now (at a conference in) Austin, Texas, theresa国际传媒檚 a service that does a similar thing that includes firefighting. Itsa国际传媒檚 one of only a couple in the US that does something similar. Itsa国际传媒檚 very different from whatsa国际传媒檚 been provided in Canada previously.sa国际传媒�

The base launched on August 10. TEAAM held an open house at the Campbell River Airport, which was attended by supporters like the Truck Loggers Association, Interfor, Western Forest Products, as well as Vancouver Island Helicopters, 49 North and others. Those partners helped with fundraising to get the equipment TEAAM needed for the launch.

sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 a long process, most of it was fundraising to make sure we had the equipment to launch the base. We did pretty well with human resources. What we do is so very different, interesting and exciting,sa国际传媒� Randell said. sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檝e got some incredible folks that work with us now in the Campbell River area. It took about a year for us to get enough funding to launch the Medevac capability. Wesa国际传媒檙e still fundraising to be able to add the rescue capability to it.sa国际传媒�

While as of Aug. 18 there hasnsa国际传媒檛 been any deployments of the service, TEAAM did do one mission before the official launch.

sa国际传媒淲e had one previous deployment before we launched the base,sa国际传媒� Randell said. sa国际传媒淲e went and picked up a patient with a respiratory condition. We looked at launching that out of Squamish, but the weather was bad.

sa国际传媒淚t was equidistant between the Squamish base and the Campbell River base. We were able to put something together at the drop of the hat with some dedicated team members who jumped into a helicoptersa国际传媒� and made it happen.sa国际传媒�

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marc.kitteringham@campbellrivermirror.com
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