(SWANTON, MD) – A mother and her newborn pre-mature infant were safely flown by Maryland State Police Trooper 5 helicopter, based in Cumberland, MD from a remote Garrett County location amidst challenging weather conditions in the mountainous region of the state yesterday morning.
The infant, born approximately 10 weeks early, was delivered on the side of the road near Backbone Mountain by Garrett County Emergency Medical Services shortly after 9:30 a.m. At the time, the child’s mother was enroute to the hospital nearly 40 miles away when she suffered complications and went into labor. An off-duty medical professional from UPMC Western Maryland Regional Medical Center came upon the woman and assisted with the delivery of the infant. Tri-Towns Emergency Medical Services and Bloomington Volunteer Fire Company responded to provide emergency medical care to the mother and infant.
Due to the deteriorating medical condition of the infant, the Maryland State Police (MSP) Duty Officer, stationed in the Operations Control Center (OCC) in Baltimore, MD received a request for assistance from Garrett County volunteers for a MEDEVAC. Maryland State Police Trooper 5 out of Cumberland, MD was dispatched and arrived on scene within 15 minutes.
The infant’s medical condition led to the crew of Trooper 5 to make the decision to fly the infant and mother to J. W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia at approximately 9:45a.m. yesterday morning. As Trooper 5 departed the scene, complicated weather conditions enroute and limited flight visibility led to the crew requesting an instrument clearance from Air Traffic Control. Using the AW139 aircraft’s advanced avionics the crew was able to execute the instrument approach into Morgantown nearly 60 miles away. Trooper 5 was able to successfully transport the mother and infant to the medical facility for further treatment.
The Maryland State Police Aviation Command has served Maryland citizens since 1970, and operates a fleet of 10 helicopters from seven bases throughout Maryland on a 24/7/365 basis. Missions include medevac, law enforcement, search & rescue, homeland security, and disaster assessment. The success of rescues performed by the Aviation Command depends a great deal on the cooperative efforts of local fire, rescue and EMS law enforcement agencies.
This was a miracle! I, too, had a newborn in critical condition where time was of the essence and a State Police helicopter got her to John's Hopkins for immediate surgery at midnight to try to save her life. The story in this article is nothing short of a miracle, given all the elements against them! Not enough words to adequately commend the teamwork of professionals here and my heart goes out to them for what they had to endure! Thank God you are here for us!
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to know that our country has this capability and that people do care about people. Job well done. I do hope and pray for for the health of the mother and her new born baby.
ReplyDeletenot that big of a deal. It's called IFR for a reason and commercial pilots do it all the time. Hell in a war zone our soldier pilots do it all the time while under fire! so quit making them out to be something they are not. they are just a couple of guys doing their job! hopefully they dont hurt themselves while patting themselves on the back!t
ReplyDeleteYou need a hug, bruh?
DeleteDear 7:40,
ReplyDeleteYou comment is not only unkind, but also unnecessary
Regards,
Paladin
paladin, ever been in a war zone? didn't think so! what have you done for your country? fellow man?
ReplyDeleteJust think how long that poor infant had to wait on the side of the road for the helicopter when it could have already been at the hospital via ambulance. If you idiots would pay attention to times you would realize that.
ReplyDeletePRMC had one of the brightest physicians and the ER is named after him, Dr. Robert Atkins. He was smart enough to know that the helicopters did not provide and quicker service and forbid local providers to use them. What happened to that?
considering the number of people actually saved vs the costs to the taxpayer along with what we pay when renewing license / registration, i know the feel good stories get people all misty eyed but what's the true cost? think there would be a much better way to allocate these dollars while saving lives! so what do the crews do when not in service? sit around doing what 95% of the time?
ReplyDeleteoh and don't forget their state pensions we will be paying for also!
sorry not buying all the BS!
Northwest Woodsman: You sound like an armchair warrior, 7:40. I am a retired army aviator with 8000 hours of flight time and I can attest to the fact that flying helicopters in IFR conditions is extremely hazardous and real aviators try to avoid it except in extreme emergencies. I was also a mountain rescue officer for 15 years and we used our helicopters to evacuate injured hikers and climbers from extremely rugged terrain but when the mountains were IFR, we would climb to their location, package them up and carry them out manually. None of us looked forward to that but the aircraft could not negotiate those canyons and peaks in IFR. Any questions? Ask Kobe Bryant. Oh, never mind.
ReplyDeletebut you did it! why? cause it was your job. lot's of people have tough and/or stressful jobs you either get good at it or well you don't! nuff said!
ReplyDeleteBravo to those heros. There are some decent people left in the world.
ReplyDeleteJust appreciate that lives where saved and the required help was there. Who knows you may need assistance someday while stuck along side the highway glad it's there.
ReplyDelete