In-Flight Care

Photograph by Frank Haxton

Every day, two helicopters loaded with medical equipment — a virtual intensive-care unit — are ready to race through the skies to the remote and rugged areas of northern Nevada and northeastern California. The pilots and crews provide 24-hour emergency air-ambulance service and rescue to people in trouble within a 150-mile radius of helicopter bases in Reno and Gardnerville, Nev.

The choppers are the heart of the Care Flight emergency-transport program operated by a Reno charity called the Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority, or Remsa.

On board each aircraft is a nurse who specializes in providing care to those with critical injuries and illnesses and a paramedic who has been trained to deal with the special needs that arise during helicopter transport. These medical professionals assist patients — including injured victims of boating, car, hiking, horseback and other accidents, as well as people who are seriously ill — as they are sped to hospitals throughout the area.

The medical-services authority was founded as a charity in 1986 as the result of an agreement between Washoe County, Nev., and the cities of Reno and Sparks. Both Care Flight and a ground paramedic ambulance service operate under the authority’s umbrella.

The Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority is essentially self-supporting, operating on fees charged for services without government subsidies. The authority spent $3.8-million in 2001 on its Care Flight program.

Here, a Care Flight crew, which has touched down near a mountain range, prepares to rush a patient to a medical facility.