by Scott, Laura
“Let’s get some meds into him before we lose it again.”
She helped the firefighters while Andrew prepared the gurney. The patient’s heart rate had returned, but the rhythm was hardly regular.
“Get the Amiodarone ready, and make sure the defibrillator is charged up. We could lose his heart rhythm at any moment.”
Thankfully, the firefighters had placed an intraosseous IV.
“Andrew, do you have the fluid warmer on?”
“You bet.” He finished switching all the equipment, including the IV. On the count of three, they lifted the patient and swung him onto the gurney.
“Let’s go.” Samantha took a deep breath, preparing for the long hike to the chopper.
`“Use the ambulance.” One of the firefighters gestured to the waiting vehicle. “You’ll get there much faster. This guy has to weigh at least a hundred kilos.”
“Thanks.” Samantha gratefully accepted his offer.
With the help of the ambulance, they reached the helicopter in record time. Reese had the blades whirling, ready to go.
She and Andrew loaded the patient through the hatch. Andrew gestured for her to follow the patient inside, then closed the door after her. He jogged around to get in along the right side.
Once Andrew was settled in beside her, she switched on her mic. “We’re good to go back here, Reese.”
“Roger. Base, we’re preparing for lift-off.”
Samantha busied herself with hooking up the warming blanket and spreading it out to cover their patient. Then she checked the medication while Andrew began filling out the paperwork.
“I’m losing his rhythm here,” she warned. “He’s having tons of PVCs. I’m increasing the Amiodarone.”
“Got it.” Andrew jotted down the notations, then reached over to power up the defibrillator. “Let me know if you want to cardiovert.”
“I will.” Samantha increased the medication, then watched the effects on the monitor. “We still have a pulse, and a borderline yet currently stable blood pressure. Let’s wait to see what the medication can do.”
“Is everything all right back there?” Reese asked. “Do you need me to divert our course?”
“Negative. We are holding our own. At least for the moment.” Samantha wondered how Reese seemed able to read every inflection of her tone. Although he was seated in the cockpit, she always felt as if he were right beside her.
There was no time to be afraid of flying as they neared Trinity Medical Center. “Reese, radio ahead and tell them I need a hot unload.”
“Will do.” She barely listened as Reese did as she’d requested. “ETA roughly five minutes.”
“Come on, hang on,” she murmured, giving her patient another bolus of Amiodarone. She wondered if they may have underestimated the patient’s weight. For all they knew, he could be closer to one hundred and twenty kilos. It wasn’t always easy to estimate a patient’s weight.
“Getting ready to land,” Reese informed them.
The minutes had never gone so fast. “We’re ready.”
As soon as Reese landed, Andrew jumped out to release the hatch. Between them, they pulled out their patient and set him down. The emergency department staff were waiting as requested on the helipad. The extra hands were helpful.
“Core temp is still only thirty-one degrees Celsius. And he still having a lot of PVCs,” Samantha shouted as they wheeled him inside.
The elevator ride down to the emergency department seemed longer than the flight from the lake had been.
“Thank heavens, you guys got there when you did, or he wouldn’t have any chance at all,” one of the ED nurses commented.
Samantha wordlessly agreed. They wheeled the patient into the closest trauma bay and continued to work on him while another nurse called up to the ICU to arrange a bed. Samantha and Andrew stepped aside. Their role in saving this ice fisherman’s life was over, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet.
The nurse had been right. Flying was probably safer than ground transport, even in rough weather conditions. There were far more car crashes than flight disasters.
And it was clear that without Lifeline this guy wouldn’t have stood a chance.
“Everything go okay?” Reese asked, once they’d climbed back on board.
“Yeah, for now. He’s in good hands,” Samantha told him.
“I need to refuel before heading back to the hangar.”
“Sounds good.”
The extra trip added twenty minutes before they arrived back at Lifeline. Inside the debriefing room and out of Andrew’s earshot, Reese caught Samantha’s arm. “Hey. Are you really all right?”
“I’m fine.” She tried to shrug, but Reese only tightened his grip, and she knew her casual tone hadn’t fooled him. “For a few moments there I had the willies, but they didn’t last.” Sam flashed a crooked smile. “Your voice helps keep me steady.”
“Samantha.” Her name was little more than a groan. “You can’t say stuff like that to me while we’re working.”
She had to laugh at his pained expression. “Okay, but it’s true.”
When she would’ve pulled away, he shook his head. “You don’t have to finish your Lifeline rotation. I shouldn’t have interfered in your request for a transfer. I’ll talk to Jared on your behalf if you like.”
“Reese.” She turned toward him, looking him directly in the eye. “I’m fine. Seriously. As soon as we dropped our patient off, I realized how lucky he was to have Lifeline there for him. The closest trauma center was easily forty-five minutes by ground transport. He never would’ve lasted that long.” Her expression clouded. “He still may not make it, but getting him here so quickly gives him a chance.”
“Yes, that much is true. But the person to put their life on the line doesn’t have to be you,” Reese argued.
She studied him for a moment. Was he worried about a repeat of what had happened to Valerie? “I’m only here for a few months, Reese. When I graduate, I’ll get a staff position in an emergency trauma center someplace. I won’t be flying anymore.”
Instead of relief, his expression turned even more somber. She didn’t know what else to say to reassure him.
“I guess you’ll just have to be my personal pilot,” she teased lightly. “That way, you know I’ll be in good hands.”
Their pagers went off simultaneously before he could respond. Samantha looked at the message on the screen. “Car versus train, two victims in the car, both adults, but the woman is pregnant.” Her heart squeezed in her chest. “Where’s the peds crew?”
There was no answer as they ran toward the helicopter. Lifeline maintained two choppers just for this reason, although she knew full well the mother’s life had to come first. Especially since they had no way of knowing the gestational age of the fetus.
“They’re on their way to Children’s Memorial with the transport. They’ll respond if we give them the word,” Reese informed her. “Come on, where’s Andrew?”
“Right behind you, Ace.” Andrew plunked his helmet on his head. “Ready to roll.”
Samantha smiled as she jumped in behind you Andrew. Maybe working for some air medical transport company wouldn’t be so bad if the crew was just like this. Certainly, she’d suffered worse rotations before.
She listened as Reese went through his preflight check, then radioed the base. “Lifeline to base, come in. We’re ready for takeoff.”
“Roger, Lifeline, you’re clear to go. Winds are coming out of the east.”
“Roger.”
Samantha listened as Reese communicated with the paramedic base. This time she didn’t experience any of the previous preflight jitters as Reese took off.
The helicopter suddenly lurched hard to the right. If Sam hadn’t been strapped in, she would’ve smashed up against her door.
Before she could cue her mic to ask Reese what happened, his voice came through her headset, calm and clear. “Mayday, Mayday. We’re going down for an emergency landing.”
12
Reese fought to keep the stick steady, sweat dripping down along the inside of his helmet, burning his eyes. Come on, keep it level. If he didn’t hold the chopper level, the tip of his blades might hit something, sending them crashing. They’d be goners for sure.
The paramedic base rattled off commands in his ear, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying through the thundering beat of his heart. He gripped the controls so hard he was surprised the handle didn’t break in two. No matter how hard he tried to keep the chopper level, it kept lurching to the right. Something, a bird maybe, must’ve hit them, causing damage on the right side. They were only a few hundred feet up—all he needed to do was get back down onto the helipad.
Easier said than done. The wobbly motion of the helicopter was far from reassuring. He started his descent. The building was close, too close to the helipad for comfort. If he misjudged the lurching motion of the helicopter, they’d crash. Slowly lowering the chopper, he stared at the controls, fighting to keep the lopsided motion to a minimum. Finally, he landed, hard. He instantly cut the rotation of the blades just as one of the skids beneath the chopper gave away, sending them lurching sideways. The helicopter shuddered to a halt.
For a moment, he just sat there.
They’d made it down alive.
“Samantha? Andrew? Are you both all right?” Reese struggled to get out of his harness, the awkward angle of the chopper making it difficult.
“Reese? We’re okay.” Samantha’s voice was reassuringly steady. “Can’t get the door opened, though.”
“Use your feet to kick out the window.” Reese was forced to use the same maneuver to get out as well. He climbed from the chopper, thankful to see Samantha and Andrew were both already out and on the ground.
“What did you do to my chopper?” Mitch roared from the hangar doorway.
“Something hit us. Must’ve been a bird.” Reese locked his knees to keep himself upright. But he couldn’t hide his shaking hands as he reached toward Samantha. “Are you sure you’re not hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine.” Samantha smiled and grasped his hands tightly. He wanted her in his arms, but she held him off. “Thanks for getting us down safely.”
He almost hadn’t, but he didn’t think it was prudent to mention that fact. Slowly, he released her. The three of them headed inside the hangar. “We’ll need to call base.”
“Yeah, I want to know where the second helicopter is.” Samantha barely glanced at him in her rush to get to the phone. “We need to respond to this call.”
“What? Are you nuts?” Reese argued hotly. “We almost crashed.”
Samantha ignored him. “Base, where’s the second chopper? Tell them to hustle over to Lifeline. Our chopper is down, and we need to respond to this call. One of the crew members will need to switch with me.”
“Samantha, you don’t need to go.” Reese tried to reason with her once she hung up the phone. “Someone else can help the victims.”
“Let’s help Mitch get the chopper off the helipad. The second one is on its way.” Samantha wasn’t listening.
He wanted to shake some sense into her. “Mitch has already hauled the busted chopper inside. But listen to me. You don’t need to respond to this call.”
“Yes, Reese, I do. There are two injured people out there who need me. One of them is pregnant. There isn’t anyone else to go.”
Before he could think of another argument, he heard the second chopper approach. Within minutes, the chopper landed on the helipad. Samantha pulled on her helmet and waited, ready to rush to the helicopter.
A guy he couldn’t see clearly through the face shield of his helmet, jumped off, wordlessly agreeing to change places with Samantha.
In a heartbeat, Reese decided he wasn’t letting her go alone. He rushed to the pilot’s door and gestured his intention to ride along. Nate looked confused, but luckily the less senior pilot didn’t argue.
Within moments, Reese was seated in the copilot’s seat as Nate communicated to base his request to take off. Reese grabbed the armrests and held his breath, expecting the worst, as Nate lifted the chopper from the ground.
Jared wouldn’t be happy with him, but he didn’t care. Reese knew he was supposed to file a crash report on the hard landing, but as far as he was concerned, the report would have to wait.
If Samantha intended to go to the crash scene, he would go with her. Even if flying made his stomach bubble and roll like molten lava.
SAMANTHA’S PALMS WERE DAMP, and she wiped them on her flight suit as she took several steadying breaths. Flying so soon after the hard landing wasn’t easy, but there wasn’t another choice. If those people needed help, she intended to be there.
This was what she’d trained for. Saving lives.
She was grateful David, the peds resident, had agreed to switch places with her. With Shelly on board, they had one adult responder and one pediatric one, a good balance in her opinion. Her only regret was that Reese wasn’t the pilot.
Would Reese fly again after their hard landing? She honestly didn’t know. The crash that had taken his best friend and fiancée still haunted him. But he was an amazing pilot. She knew she and Andrew owed their lives to Reese’s expertise in avoiding a serious crash.
She remained quiet while Nate communicated with the base regarding the location of the train versus car crash. Shelly didn’t know anything about the hard landing, the paramedic base had only relayed the information of how Reese’s chopper was down and unavailable to fly. Sam decided now wasn’t the time to fill Shelly in on the gory details, not while they were in flight. Instead, she concentrated on the task at hand. There would be plenty of time to fall apart later.
“ETA two minutes.” Nate’s voice broke into her thoughts. “See that field over there? That’s where I am bringing her down.”
Shelly nodded, indicating she agreed with Nate’s decision. Sam grabbed hold of her seat and held her breath as Nate settled the chopper on the ground with a jarring thud. In her humble opinion, Nate was not the pilot Reese was.
Samantha and Shelly jumped down, then went around the chopper to pull the gurney out from the hatch.
Sam surveyed the scene. The damage didn’t look nearly as bad as it could’ve been considering a train was involved. The car was smashed in on the rear bumper of the driver’s side, but it must have spun clear around as the front was wedged up against a tree. The paramedics on scene waved them forward.
“The driver is a male, he’s the worst of the two. The woman is conscious, but she’s trapped inside. She’s also in active labor, crying that she feels the need to push. Has either of you delivered a baby?”
“I haven’t helped deliver a baby since nursing school.” Shelly’s face was pale, and her hand hovered over her own slightly rounded abdomen. Belatedly, Samantha remembered hearing about Shelly’s pregnancy.
“I have,” Samantha admitted as she swallowed hard. “I did a two-month rotation in OB last year.” She didn’t add how delivering a baby in a controlled environment with the experts at hand was very different than managing the same task out in the field like this. “I’ll take the mother.”
“I’ll examine the driver.” Shelly didn’t hide her relief.
“I’ll give you a hand, Samantha.” Reese’s deep voice came from behind her.
She glanced over in shock to see him standing there, but there wasn’t time to ask why he’d tagged along. “Fine. The paramedics can help Shelly.” Shelly specialized in peds, but with the paramedics help, she would be able to handle the driver. “Reese, give me hand. We have to get her out of there or she’ll be delivering that baby on her own.”
Sam headed over to where a couple of firefighters were prying open the passenger door. Reese remained by her side.
“Almost got it,” one of them said with a grunt. With one last pull, the door opened and fell to the ground.
Samantha crouched in the opening beside the sobbing woman. “I’m Dr. Kearn. Everything’
s okay. You need to help me now so we can save your baby.” She sharpened her tone, trying to get through to the nearly hysterical woman. “How far apart are your contractions?”
“I don’t know.” The woman spoke between gasping sobs. Sam was glad she was trying to cooperate. The pregnant woman took a deep breath and then added, “Just before we crashed, they were five minutes apart. I don’t have a watch, but they seem to be almost one right after the other.”
Too close. That’s exactly what Samantha had been afraid of. Any thoughts of loading her patient into the chopper and taking her directly to Trinity faded fast. “Are you hurt anywhere? Your neck? Your head? We need to get you out of this car.”
“My head hurts a little, but nothing like these contractions.” The woman gasped and cried out. “I was in such pain, Eddie was rushing me to the hospital. We thought we beat the train, but it clipped our bumper, sending us spinning into the tree.” The woman’s face contorted. “How is Eddie? Oh no, here’s another one.” She wailed as a contraction tightened her abdomen.
“Breathe through the pain, try to pant.” Samantha wished she’d paid more attention during her OB rotation. When she’d assisted in delivering babies, the nurses had taken the role of coaches, instructing their patients how to breathe.
“Like this.” Reese stepped up and demonstrated the technique, helping the woman breathe. Sam could barely hide her amazement. How did he know what to do?
“We need to turn her so I can examine her,” Samantha told Reese in a low tone. “The baby is close.”
“Got it.”
Between them, they got the woman turned in the seat enough that Sam could kneel on the icy ground in front of the passenger door to examine her patient. Sure enough, there was a round bulge where the baby’s head was crowning.
There wasn’t time to think. “All right, the next time you feel a contraction, I want you to push.”
“Are you sure?” Reese’s eyebrows rose as if he were nervous.
“Yes, I’m sure. This baby isn’t going to wait much longer.” Sam tried to smile reassuringly at the woman. There weren’t stirrups to use, so she hooked one of her patient’s legs over her own shoulder and propped the other one on the rail of the paramedic’s gurney. Without a fetal monitor, she could only hope and pray that the baby was okay.