Trauma care in the air: New emergency transportation launches

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - It’s trauma care in the air. And first responders and others in Columbia County got an up-close look on Monday. Despite the weather putting a bit of a damper on things plenty of people still came out to see the new emergency transport.

This program launched just three weeks ago. And in Columbia County, a crowd wanted to see it up close in action.

“Even if I didn’t have a kid I’d probably still come out and see it because it sounds really awesome,” said Daniel Rice, a Harlem resident.

“Seemed like a good, fun thing to check out,” said Gary Holley, a Harlem resident of 40-plus years.

“Excited! I never really saw a helicopter up close,” said Tiffany, an onlooker.

Augusta University Health’s Air Care Program has been in the skies for less than a month. And with this program being so new they’ve been going all over the area getting our emergency workers up to speed.

“It is a huge huge safety thing, approaching the helicopter,” said Chief Tripp Lonergan of the Harlem Fire Department.

Lonergan hosted the Air Care team. They received training on how to work with air care during emergency situations.

AU says this helicopter is one of the largest available in the civilian world and they say this larger size lets them provide some emergency trauma care in the air. It also allows someone to ride to the hospital with the patient, something that wasn’t possible before.

“Pretty neat that they’re preparing for worst. Kind of disasters, so, we’re lucky,” said Holley.

The helicopter can reach all of our area and for our children, AU says this increased range improves access to the Children’s Hospital of Georgia.

Air Care says its training exercises usually include landing drills, but things got cut short because of the thunderstorms that came through.

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