Re: ASKING FOR INFO: Helicopters

I had the opportunity to assist with a Medivac operation a few years ago. I came upon a rollover accident on the I-5 near Magic Mountain. There had been 4 children ejected from the vehicle(not wearing seat belts!), the first thing I saw when I opened my door was a kid in between the metal highway divider with a head injury. I look to my left and see two other kids laying in the street crying, and the parents were getting out of the overturned vehicle still laying on its side. The kid in between the barrier had a open head wound about 2" from the steel I-beam, lots of blood, and very lethargic. A guy from the crowd asked if he could help (I believe he said he was training to become an EMT or he was one?) So we applied a 4x4's to the wound and stabilized his neck. I then went to the other two girls in the road, they did not look to bad (minor cuts, road rash). You have to assume there could be worse internal injuries, seeing how the just got ejected from a vehicle on a highway. By this time the first Highway Patrol had shown up, I explained what I new up to this point and I suggested calling in a helicopter, just then a baby shows up with tons of road rash it had been found at least 50 yards from vehicle on the side of the road, OK maybe two Helicopters! So the highway Patrol called in for two helicopters. We continued doing what we could until the fire department showed up, they started working up the boy first, getting an IV started, etc. I was given the IV bag to hold elevated. Just then a loud thump sound of rotor blades caught my attention, It was LA's new Fire hawk! Very impressive! I continued to hold the IV bag and help load the boy into this massive helicopter. The crewman from inside the helicopter asked if we still needed an additional helicopter, we have room for 5 patients. Most helicopters have enough room for one, sometimes two! I feel very lucky to have experienced this. I do have a little bit of background which may have helped. I have been around aircraft for many years, flying for almost 20 years now. Also I have had the opportunity to do "Ride a longs" with my brother, who used to be a flight medic with Mercy Air. I also think being CERT trained helped. The CERT program as written does not deal with landing zones that I am aware of. Would it be nice to know, Yes! CERT is evolving, and there are many things that are not covered now, that might be in the future. The CERT program as designed is a good starting platform, the question then turns to how well your county, city,or fire department at making this program a success. From what I have seen there are 3 basic departments, One does the training just to get their hands on some of that grant funding money, and does nothing beyond that , the second does the program as designed, but has little contact with the group that it has spent all that time and money to train. The third department type is going to embrace this program and see where they can take it, after all it's free labor! I will post more on my thoughts on the three department types later! If anybody has connections with any media outlets in that area, I would love to get the video, and pictures that were taken at the scene.