When kids need help fast, Valley Children’s turns to Air George crews

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Patti Taylor says that nursing at 3,000 feet isn’t for the faint of heart.

When Taylor, a critical care transport nurse, zips up her flight suit, she is prepared for anything aboard Air George, Valley Children’s Hospital’s shiny orange and blue EC-135 helicopter.

“It’s more than just being a good bedside nurse,” Taylor says about her job. “It’s being able to think outside the box and being able to work out of your bag.”

About 470 times a year, Air George (named after the hospital’s giraffe mascot) lifts up from its helipad at Valley Children’s and zooms away to pick up a critically ill child from a hospital that may not have the equipment or expertise to treat the young.

Inside the cockpit is a nurse and a respiratory therapist, both with critical care training. The pilots are contracted with REACH Air Medical Services.

“We’re a mobile ICU,” says transport manager Laura Cooper. “We provide the intensive care that we would do here (at Valley Children’s), but we can start it in the field and start our continuum of care all the way back.”

The team serves 45,000 square miles, down to Bakersfield and east into the mountains, through Stockton and over to the Central Coast. Occasionally, Air George will travel as far as UCLA Medical Center.

Air George takes flight for any journey over 50 miles, unless fog or some other problem would cause safety concerns.

Two kid-friendly ambulances (and a third for backup) are housed off-site. If weather doesn’t permit flying or if Air George is already working a job, then the crew will take ground transport to get to the patient.

“Either way,” says respiratory therapist Ernesto Aguilar, “the patient’s gonna get picked up.”

Three helipads dot the Valley Children’s campus. One is atop the main hospital for dropping off patients, and a backup helipad about a minute’s walk from the building is used in case the other two are already occupied.

The third —Air George’s base — is perched on an overlook at the edge of the hospital grounds, with a view of a golf course on one side, and blooming orchards and a glimpse of the San Joaquin River on the other.

This is where the team meets inside their headquarters before each shift to go over weather forecasts and check their gear.

Aguilar and Pam Kocsis, a nurse, say they had reservations about flying before getting the job, but now they love going up.

‘We give them a little headset’

Older children who are awake while in flight usually enjoy the experience, too, Kocsis says.

“We give them a little headset so they can talk to us and ask us questions and we can reassure them. Usually they think it’s pretty cool.”

Taylor says caring for babies in a moving helicopter is much different than being in the NICU. Although the team always consults doctors, the reality is they’re up there alone.

“In the hospital, everything is beside you and you have a great team of people who can support you. Out there in transport, it’s you and your RT and your pilot. It’s a whole different kind of exciting.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 5:49 PM.