:       I had the amazing opportunity to watch a nice ambulance
:       helicopter shoosh in and land in the middle of the street
:       the day before July 4th, and I thought, "Wow! How do I
:       become one of those pilots or crew members?"

:       Anybody have an idea?  Are there any specialized programs
:       for this, or do I start with two seperates, EMT and
:       helicopter schools, then go from there?

:       Thanks,

David,

No one has really answered your question have they?  

Well, I have a some qualifications to answer your questions.  I am both a
pilot and a paramedic.  You have to seperate the two jobs because the pilots
of medical evac helos are usually not paramedics.  

If you want to fly then that is a very expensive and long road.  Acquiring
just the helo rating will cost you in the area of $5000+ and then you will
probably not get hired by an air evac unit until you have many hours of
flight time.

The medical part is a little bit easier but it still hold many hours of
schooling and experience before you.  Most if not all flight medical
personnel are paramedics and or nurses.  The become a paramedic you must
first start out as a basic EMT and work your way up to paramedic.  You can
probably do that in a year to two years but here again you will still have
very little experience.  I have been in EMS for seven years and a paramedic
for a little over five years.  I still am not qualified to be on a flight
paramedic but this ismostly my fault as I have not taken any of the required
classes in neonatal care.  You also have to met certain weight requirements!
I blow this requirement real bad as I am about thirty pounds over the limit
for my areas Nightengale helo.

Cheers

Brian

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Brian J. Rueger       | Hampton Division of Fire & Rescue |"Who dares win"  |
| Paramedic/Firefighter | Squad-7 (Advanced Life Support)   |                 |

| IAFF 2450             | B.S. SEL/CPI, MSgt USAF (Ret) 49199, USAFSSO, ESC

:       I had the amazing opportunity to watch a nice ambulance
:       helicopter shoosh in and land in the middle of the street
:       the day before July 4th, and I thought, "Wow! How do I

This is something I would *love* to do, wheren't it for my bad motion
sickness :(  We have a helicopter at my schools med center, and it is
neat!

John

--
"Two roads diverged in a wood
     and I took both."
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:       I had the amazing opportunity to watch a nice ambulance
:       helicopter shoosh in and land in the middle of the street
:       the day before July 4th, and I thought, "Wow! How do I
:       become one of those pilots or crew members?"

:       Anybody have an idea?  Are there any specialized programs
:       for this, or do I start with two seperates, EMT and
:       helicopter schools, then go from there?

:       Thanks,

Helicopter ambulances have the HIGHEST accident rate and subsequent death
rate of all helicopter operations, possibly excluding military.  They fly
into unprepared sites which are many times traffic accidents with power
wires all around, into unknown sites with non-aviation ground crews (ie the
police).  Plus they are on standby all day and at a moments notice they
fly, on bad days they can log alot of hours, which various studies have
concluded contribute to their high accident rate.

I used to fly (fixed wing) and you'd be amazed how quickly it becomes a
job.  On windy days you really get the stuffing knocked out of you.

--
James Clarke   Co-Owner of Simpson-James Guitar Company
Check Out Our Home Page!  http://www.connix.com/~sjguitar

Bruce

/**************************************************************************\
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S.
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        1- The regional service, for EMS/on-scene response is the Sentara
Hospitals Nightingale Air Ambulance.  It is a medium sized helicopter,
with a mission crew of three.  Of the three, one is the pilot, and he is
the only one with a specialized aviation background.  Generally, due to
the high military population in the Hampton Roads {*filter*}ia area, the
pilots are retired or ex-Navy/Army/Marine/Air Force.

        2-The remainder of the mission crew is the medical staff.  One
each, flight nurse and flight paramedic.  I am not clear as to the base
requirements for the flight nurse position, but I am aware that each of
the nurses I have spoken to has been an RN (one is MSN), CEN (certified
emergency nurse), and have taken the BTLS/PHTLS courses.  Again, this is
scarce info.....    The flight paramedic has a minimum of five years
pre-hospital EMS experience as a nationally registered paramedic, must
have all the good initials... PALS/ACLS/BTLS-PHTLS and often have
technical rescue skills as well.. rope, high-angle, trench...

The decision is: do you want to fly, or do you want patient care?  For
patient care, start with your EMT, and move on, either to the paramedic
level, or up through the nursing field.  Best of luck, and drop a line if
in the area.....

Regards,

Scott Burke, NREMT-Paramedic

Lieutenant, Operations                   Critical Care Transport Team
Kempsville Rescue Squad                     Sentara Medical Transport
{*filter*}ia Beach, {*filter*}ia                     {*filter*}ia Beach, {*filter*}ia

Some good points but I would like to add the following.  I have no cold hard
facts on this but I am pretty sure this is correct (I worked for Sentara for
4 years and one of my dept's PMs is a Nightingale crew.)  Sentara likes
their PMs and RN to have had some prior pediatrics experience, i.e., work in
the NICU (neonatal ICU) or King's Daughter's peds transport team.  Also,
don't forget about the personal weight limit - I believe it is 210lbs.

Cheers

Brian
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian J. Rueger       |  Hampton Div. of Fire & Rescue    |  "Who dares wins"
Paramedic/Firefighter |  Squad-7 (Advanced Life Support)  |      
B.S.-C.J. Comm/IP/SEL |  MSgt, USAF (Ret.) 49199          |   NREMT-P          
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Steve