Geisinger's LifeFlight helicopter a hit at Saturday event

Marieda Joyner and her best friend went to Nay Aug Park Saturday night to hear the music and watch the fireworks. 

When she saw the Geisinger LifeFlight helicopter on display on the helipad, she had one more thing to do: say thank you.

The 51-year-old Taylor resident totaled her car in a crash and was flown to Geisinger Community Medical Center in 2007.

“I thought I was going to die, but the people inside (the helicopter) comforted me,” she said. “I knew that I was going to be OK.”

The helicopter was on display as part of an Emergency Education Symposium, presented by GCMC and other emergency crews, including Pennsylvania Ambulance. Before United Polka Artists with Jimmy Sturr and his orchestra played and before fireworks lit up the skies, crews advised park-goers about fireworks and summer safety. At the helipad, visitors were able to sit inside the helicopter and ask the crew questions about their work.

In Ms. Joyner’s case, she gave hugs and got her photo taken with her friend, Debra London, as well as LifeFlight medic Robert F. Sembrat and LifeFlight nurse Bryan Shepard.

“This Life Flight saved me,” Ms. Joyner said.

Mr. Shepard said the LifeFlight provides service to most of Wayne, Susquehanna, Wyoming, Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.

Pointing to the equipment strapped to the walls of the helicopter’s interior, he explained that crews in the air are “pretty much ready for everything” with cardiac monitors, IV infusion pumps and even an intensive care unit quality ventilator.

LifeFlight pilot Michael Carson said he closely monitors the weather, conditions and determines whether a flight is possible, even calculating the maximum weight of the patient or patients the chopper can transport. The helicopter’s maximum speed is about 165 mph, but it usually travels at about 135 mph, he said.

Before he joined the LifeFlight team, Mr. Carson spent 15 years as a medevac pilot in the military.

“We’ve got the best medics and nurses I’ve flown with in a long time,” he said of the other men in uniform, talking to the families who stopped by.

In all, about 60 people checked out the helicopter, many with small children who grinned as they climbed into the passenger seat and posed for pictures.

Michael McCormick of Pennsylvania Ambulance said events like Saturday’s help take some of the fear out of medical transports, whether they are by helicopter or ambulance.

“I think it’s important that the public is aware what goes on in an ambulance,” he said. “Though it may be scary, we’re going to help them.”

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