St. John's Life Line:
20 years of life-saving rapid response


It’s been 17 1/2 years and nearly 3,000 flights since St. John’s Life Line Flight Paramedic and senior crew member Eric Howard, NR, CCEMT-P, FP-C, flew on his first mission with Life Line, but his love of the work and admiration of the now 20-year-old program haven’t faded a bit.

“I can’t imagine doing anything else. From the time I joined Life Line, I’ve felt it was a privilege and an honor to be part of it,” Howard says.

St. John’s Life Line is the oldest and most accident- and incident-free air ambulance service in the Ozarks. First called Hammons Life Line for Springfield businessman and philanthropist John Q. Hammons’ donation of St. Johns’ first helicopter, Life Line has provided 24-hour rapid air transport for seriously ill or critically injured patients since July 1, 1984 and is now comprised of three helicopters and 50 staff members.

Dispatched from bases in St. Robert, Bolivar and Branson West, Life Line helicopters airlift patients from hospitals, crash scenes or homes, provide life-saving care on board and transport them to a facility of their choice offering appropriate services. Life Line accepts requests from private individuals, but the majority of the program’s calls come from hospitals and first responders.

“By basing air ambulances in rural communities, we are able to decrease response times to the more remote locations that need our services,” says St. John’s emergency trauma physician and Life Line medical director Charles Sheppard, M.D. “A shorter trip to these areas increases our ability to save lives and have early access to patients in need. This type of off-basing aircraft is a national trend that has proven invaluable in terms of saving lives and improving trauma care.”

Two of Life Line’s helicopters are Eurocopter-135 twin-engine helicopters, which reach maximum speeds of 180 miles per hour and average cruise speeds of 135 miles per hour. Life Line’s third helicopter, based in Bolivar, is a BO-105 twin-engine aircraft.

The flight crew is comprised of 50 highly trained and experienced pilots, registered nurses and paramedics specially trained in rapid air medical transport. A paramedic and nurse are on each flight. The flight program’s mechanics inspect the helicopters daily and keep the aircrafts safe and efficient.

“There is an amazing trust level between Life Line’s flight crew and the ER physicians on the ground,” says Life Line Chief Flight Nurse D.J. Satterfield, RN, BSN, CFRN. “The flight nurses and paramedics are partners and make patient-care decisions together.”

Life Line’s state-of-the-art equipment affords immediate stabilizing treatment for a complete range of emergency conditions. On-board equipment includes a biphasic cardiac monitor, ventilator, defibrillator, external pacemaker, oxygen tanks, suction apparatus, endotracheal intubation devices, pulse oximeter, infusion pump, CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) devices, IABPs (intraaortic balloon pumps) when requested, and the clot-busting cardiac drug Retavase.

Each of Life Line’s three helicopters are also equipped with 12-lead EKG equipment that transmits vital patient information to a area trauma centers via cell phone or fax, which allows for more accurate diagnosis and follow-through for patients. Life Line helicopters boast all new avionics in their cockpits and global positioning systems in each helicopter guide the crew to patients’ homes or to accident scenes. The helicopters can land just about anywhere, Howard says.

“We’ve landed in yards, driveways, pastures, parking lots, and on highways and roofs,” he says.

Life Line's services also include a 24-hour neonatal transport team that transports ill or injured newborn babies to St. John’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

“We take a great deal of pride in our neonatal transport program,” says St. John’s neonatologist and NICU medical director Melinda Slack, M.D. “We have nurses who are hand-picked to provide neonatal air transport care. They must work in the NICU for at least a year before they are asked to become a neonatal flight nurse, and they receive very specialized training.”
 
Before Life Line existed, Slack set up her own neonatal air transport team. She and her pilot husband rented aircraft, loaded a 350-pound specialized incubator on the plane and transported sick or pre-term babies from facilities without neonatal care capabilities to St. John’s Hospital’s 24-bed NICU for care.

Education is also an important component of the Life Line program. Life Line crew members are committed to providing outreach and education about new and progressive trends in emergency medicine and critical care to other health care professionals and the public.

Life Line classes include “Life Line Night Out,” a dynamic lecture series for rural providers of emergency care; a ground operations safety course; a flight preparation course; a safety and first-aid course for elementary and middle school students; SOAR, which is “St. John’s Observation and Ride-Along Program,” which allows health professionals and law enforcement personnel to accompany the Life Line team on missions; and “Clearing the Air in Air Medical Transport,” an informative lecture about Life Line. For more information about any of Life Line’s educational programs, contact Jean Potts at 417-820-6985.

“Our air ambulance program is doing the same things and has the same capabilities as programs that are considered top-notch across the nation,” Satterfield says. “Our goal is to be the premier air transport team in southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas.”

Meet the St. John’s Life Line staff:

Flight Nurses

D.J. Satterfield, RN, BSN, CFRN, chief flight nurse
Kurt Abbey, R.N.
Matt Benzen, R.N.
Kandi Bouma, R.N.
Darla Cossette, R.N.
Jennifer Essman, R.N.
Lisa Gilmore, R.N.
Monta Rae Glaser, R.N.
Debra Lowry, R.N.
Andy Matthews, R.N.
Margaret McClure, R.N.
Kimberlyn Norris, R.N.
Jennifer Pemberton, R.N.
Jean Potts, R.N.
Janet Taylor, R.N.
Darren Terry, R.N.
Sherri Vaughn, R.N.
Chris Webster, R.N.
Jennifer Welch, R.N.
Rebecca Ziehr, R.N.

Flight Paramedics

Betty Donovan
Tommy Files
Sean Gasper
Keith Grayson
Matt Greenwalt
Steve Harkness
Brad Harris
Steve Holmes
Eric Howard, NR/CCEMT-P, FP-C, 2002 Flight Crewmember of the Year
Chris Mattes
Roger Meadows
David Stahlman, 2002 Flight Crewmember of the Year
Larry Summers
Neal Taylor
Shane Vaughan

Pilots and Mechanics

Doug Bohrisch, pilot
Rick Brown, pilot
Ron Clifton, pilot
Bob Deeter, pilot
Scott King, mechanic
Bob Landes, mechanic
Scott Michaelson, pilot
Tim Rego, pilot and safety officer
Phil Rogers, pilot and safety officer
Andy Schmidt, pilot
Kurt Thessen, pilot
Phil Westerland, pilot
Mike Wilkerson, pilot
Joe Wood, pilot

Visit St. John's LIfe LIne online at http:www.stjohns.com/lifeline