PMRF helps with medical emergency

MANA — Juvann Bautista, an Emergency Medical Technician with American Medical Response, arrived on Thursday at the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Mana with a patient requiring a Hawaii Life Flight Air Medical Transfer.

PMRF played an important role in the urgent time-saving medical transportation of a Kauai patient, said PMRF MC1 Louis Lea, deputy public affairs officer.

According to a press release from Lea, on Thursday at approximately 10:30 a.m., on Bautista’s arrival to the naval station, Barking Sands Fire and Emergency Services Department personnel, Chris Gutierrez and Michelle Hickerson, escorted the ambulance to the airfield tarmac to facilitate transfer of the patient from the ambulance to the waiting plane. This procedure was accomplished with the plane being in the air with the patient aboard within 30 minutes, Lea said.

“When a patient needs air medical transfer on the West Side, we are able to reduce transport time by an hour or more when going to PMRF instead of driving all the way to the other side of the island,” Bautista said. “An hour can make a serious difference in any situation, but it’s huge when you’re talking about life saving care. The team at PMRF is always super professional, and they help me with whatever I need when I get there.”

With only three hospitals on Kauai, patients requiring emergency specialty care often require air medical transfer to Oahu. PMRF is one of only two community-used patient transport zones on the island. The other zone is the Lihue Airport.

“AMR and Hawaii Life Flight are the real heroes when it comes to these flights,” said Hickerson with the Barking Sands Fire and Emergency Services. “They are the ones transporting the patients. We’re just happy to help them however we can to ensure the process goes smoothly.”