Every Flight an Emergency

By ANN POTEMPA
Anchorage Daily News
Published: March 8th, 2005

On a Saturday morning before most people are up, a man lies in Bethel's hospital waiting for an air ambulance that's delayed.

The 23-year-old has a stab wound in his belly, the result of an early-morning fight. The 4-inch knife blade cut deep, and the man needs surgery in Anchorage.

On the same Saturday in February, paramedic Matt Loudon gets the call. He works for Aeromed International, an air ambulance division of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. that keeps paramedics, nurses and pilots on call 24 hours a day to transport people in rural Alaska to doctors in cities. In 2004, Aeromed crews flew more than 1,400 missions.

But Loudon's flight this Saturday is delayed several times. At first, weather holds him back. Fog hangs low over Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, cutting visibility to less than a quarter-mile.

[whole story]