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California Shock Trauma Air Rescue |
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Monday, 06 April 2009 |
 Amador County – California Shock Trauma Air Rescue, or the CALSTAR helicopter ambulance service, opened its doors in Amador County at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Amador County Airport. The 3-person crew includes a pilot and two flight nurses who can get in the air in 5 minutes and fly up to 180 miles to assist with medical trauma suffered in Amador, El Dorado, Calaveras counties. The crew moved the CALSTAR 10 unit into a house on Airport Road in Martell, off the site of the airport, but close enough to get in the company Subaru, drive to the launch pad, and fly away to service. The crew late Wednesday afternoon was still awaiting its first call, though a trauma victim had been air-lifted from Amador County sometime after 2 a.m. by another unit Wednesday, from China Graveyard Road. The CALSTAR 10 crew on Wednesday included pilot Rod Jamieson, a former ABC pilot and reporter and also a past air firefighter. The flight nurses were Mike Clifford and Doug Probst. Jamieson said the helicopter is a BO-105, with Rolls Royce C30 engines. The craft carries the crew of 3, plus 2 patients and equipment, totaling 1,200 kilos of payload. CALSTAR is built for the speed to act in the “Golden Hour,” the crucial time frame in which severe trauma is in need of medical attention. Clifford said the craft carries ventilators, cardio monitors and defribulators. It cruises at 130 knots, and the primary nurse sits in the front, caring for the patient. The secondary nurse sits in the back and works the radio. CALSTAR 10 will primarily serve Amador County but can respond in a 150 to 180 mile radius. It will deliver to the nearest trauma hospital, Probst said, as its service is mainly called for trauma because of the “Golden Hour.” Jamieson said CALSTAR also provides one hour of free searching in incidents of search & rescue. CALSTAR sells membership to its organization because of the “financial ramifications of an air ambulance transport, which can cost $25,000 or more,” according to its website, and “Few families are prepared for large medical bills.” To see the organization’s Membership Program, see www.calstar.org. CALSTAR memberships are available to anyone, even people who are uninsured. Story by Alex Lane
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