Special report: Air ambulance safety on the High Desert

When a ground ambulance won’t move fast enough, here in Central Oregon, we rely on air ambulances. It turns out air ambulances have shaky safety records across the United States.

It’s not a service you expect to have to use.

“It was September 18, 2011,” Tashina Jordan said.

That’s the day Tashina Jordan’s healthy 5-week-old baby stopped breathing in her arms.

“I went in there and said, ‘There’s something wrong with my baby,’ and they took one look at him and hollered down the hall, ‘We need to take him ASAP,'” Jordan recalled.

Her son Mason’s medical needs were more than St. Charles in Bend could handle. They needed to take an air ambulance to Portland.

In that moment, she had no time to stop and think.

“Either we go and he has surgery, or we don’t and he dies,” Jordan said.

What Jordan was not considering is that nearly 50 percent of all EMS fatalities are from air ambulances like the one she was relying on to save her son.

“Air ambulances’ aviation record is not spotless,” B.J. Miles of Life Flight said.

In the past 10 years, there have been 135 air ambulance accidents nationwide, according to information from the National Transportation Safety Board. In those accidents, 157 people died.

From high in the sky to here on the High Desert, there is a much different picture. Our community sustains two companies, AirLink and Life Flight. Combined, they transport around 1,500 patients on average every year.

“Our flying record is actually flawless at this time,” Miles said.

Life Flight has had zero accidents, and AirLink is no different.

“We have a very, very good safety record, which is a product of very hard work,” said Kevin Schitoskey with AirLink.

Human error, emotion and complacency are the main reasons for crashes. AirLink and Life Flight train regularly in an effort to avoid these mistakes.

“You know a “go, no-go” decision-making,” Miles said. “Certainly not emotion-based.”

In fact, there is protocol in place to take emotion out of the equation entirely.

“We don’t tell the pilot, you know, ‘It’s a mother and their infant child and they’re going to die if you don’t leave today,'” Miles said.

Weather conditions for these companies are the black-and-white factor. If the weather meets the flying requirements, they go — if not, they stay grounded.

However, these people are in the business of saving lives. They know every time they get a call, someone is in need.

“Hearing these stories really affects our crew and makes them more mindful about being safe,” said Stacey Durden with AirLink.

Six years ago, 2008 was the deadliest year for air ambulance crashes, as 21 people died. That sparked an investigation by the NTSB.

Air ambulances moved to the agency’s “Most Wanted” List. Their investigation lead to final safety rulings by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Some of those changes need to be in place this year.

“They are rigid and absolute — and necessary for our safety,” Schitoskey said.

The rule requires that air ambulances have stricter flight rules, improved communication, training and more up-to-date safety equipment on board.

“They are not inexpensive,” Schitoskey said of the safety implementations.

Overall, the FAA estimated the air ambulance industry will spend $224 million on these safety upgrades.

Life Flight and AirLink say they are already up to date.

“You are certainly in good hands here in Central Oregon. It’s not that way around the country,” Schitoskey said.

“I felt safe,” Jordan said. “My son was secure.”

That security comes at a high price.

“We got a bill from them once, and it was between $3,000 and $5,000. So it was really expensive,” Jordan said.

Miles said, “But really we don’t put a price on safety.”

Good for us here in Central Oregon, because how can you put a price on your life, or those of your loved ones?

“He’s No. 1, and I’ll do whatever I have to,” Jordan said.