California is honoring its oldest and longest-running flight nurse,
Rose Gaither, of Soquel, CA. The job, which Gaither calls an honor,
involves working in the confined space of a helicopter, with medical
equipment hanging from the ceiling, and keeping injured patients alive
until they reach the hospital. She often works with seriously injured or
ill patients, and coordinates with emergency dispatchers and hospital
personnel by radio during the flights. This kind of work allows Gaither
to perform advanced emergency care that is normally a physician's job
rather than a nurses.
Flight nurses require additional training once they have obtained their
registered nurse (RN) certification. Flight nurses have experience in
advanced life support and critical care and must utilize the skills of
an intensive care nurse, emergency nurse, and critical care nurse in
treating a myriad of conditions, which tend to be emergencies. Flight
nurses usually work for medical emergency teams, hospitals, private
individuals, or disaster site teams which treat patients from car
accidents, tornadoes, earthquakes, or other disasters. Some large
airlines also hire flight nurses to fly with patients who require
specific medical care. It is a varied and relatively independent career
that is often exciting and rewarding, but can be high-stress work.
Common work required of flight nurses includes:
- Checking, monitoring and inventory management of medical supplies on
planes.
- Researching, studying and attending training on emergency response,
treating individuals without hospital backup and managing emergency
issues in flight.
- Traveling to disaster areas to support emergency response teams.
- Flying and traveling with private individuals or groups of individuals
that require medical attention or the ability to have medical attention
at all times.
- Performing all necessary emergency and non-emergency medical procedure
while in flight or at the scene of disasters and emergencies.
- Training in emergency response and preparedness. Coordinating training
and workshops for others.
Gaither, who has worked for Calstar for 23 years, has treated victims of
car crashes, gun fights, and drownings, to name a few incidents. Last
year, she worked at a traffic accident in which a bus of French tourists
overturned near Soledad, CA. She has also treated a young girl who
suffered a fall in a horse arena, and helped those injured on the
collapsed Cypress Freeway during the Loma Prieta earthquake.
While many find the work stressful, Gaither, age 56, says she loves her
job and is proud to be Calstar's oldest and most veteran nurse, with the
most years on the job. "There is a tremendous amount of camaraderie
because of what we do and the horrific things we see," Gaither said.
"But what is touching is the resiliency of the human spirit and the
courage we witness. The things people survive are incredible."
Gaither recounted the story of one patient, a six year old boy who was
accidentally shot point-blank in the abdomen with a 12-gauge shotgun.
The injury shattered his spleen, liver, intestines, and other organs and
he had lost a liter of blood by the time he was put on the helicopter.
"A medic had used a blanket and a stiff cord used in air tubes, called a
stylette, to hold his torso in place like a corset, she said. "The
flight nurses had to breath for him and get a lot of fluids back into
his body, quickly." Gaither ran into the boy's parent's a month later in
the pediatric intensive care unit. "I introduced myself and all three of
us broke down crying," she said. "He certainly defied the odds, and he
definitely would have died without rapid transit. It was everyone's
expertise that kept him alive; it was an absolute team effort. That is
why it is such an honor to do this job. It is unbelievably rewarding and
challenging."