In the treatment of traumatic injuries, the first hour often means the difference between life and death. As it happened, Graeme fell within shouting distance of a flying ICU. Aeromed Team Two was on duty at Sebring Regional Airport when the call came in at 7:22 p.m. An ambulance was on its way. Highland County paramedics left the track with their patient, turned right at the gate, and rounded the corner to the airfield, where the crew waited for transfer. Aeromed Two was one of five helicopter teams operated by Tampa General Hospital; their region covered twenty-three counties.
Matt Burnett remembered the call that night because patients were rarely delivered to the hangar. “We usually fly to them,” he said. “We’re used to landing on the highway, or in somebody’s yard.” In his report, he described finding the patient in the back of the ambulance, on a stretcher, head and torso elevated for airway protection, with full spinal immobilization.
Impression: Altered level of consciousness. Traumatic injury. Respiratory distress. Airway obstruction. Syncope/fainting.
Later, he added: Major trauma. Neurologic distress.
The patient’s shirt had been cut off and left at the scene; the team wrapped him in a medical cocoon for warmth. He wore a fitness band and wedding ring; both were left in place. He was lifted onto the transport sled, secured with chest and leg straps. Normally, the team was off the ground in five minutes, but as they loaded, the patient began vomiting again, and his heart rate dropped.
Due to deteriorating clinical presentation, length of flight and airway not deemed to be compromised, patient was placed back into ambulance to secure airway.
Ryan Kensinger performed intubation with help from a paramedic. Drugs for pain and sedation were administered. An Aeromed ventilator would keep the patient breathing during flight. By 7:55, vital signs were stable. No symptoms of internal pain. Guarding: lying quietly, no positioning of hands over areas of the body. No facial expression or smile. Richmond score values are Agitation/Sedation: unarousable. Face: occasional grimace, tearing, frowning, wrinkled forehead.
There was only one problem: the passenger didn’t fit in the cockpit. The sled rode sideways next to the pilot, feet in front, face to the rear, within reach of the team in the back seat. Graeme’s head was in Matt’s lap. His size-fourteen shoes kept hitting the air vent. It took some doing—a shoehorn, the mechanic later said, laughing—but they finally wedged him into place, and the pilot prepared for take-off.
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