Jet Skis and Helicopters

Last weekend, I worked JetSki races at Camp Far West, a local reservoir and campsite. Most of the day was fairly quiet (yeah, the "Q" word... Its ok to say AFTER the event!). Toward the end of the day, some of the faster racers were out on the course. One of them wiped out solo, necessitating an ambulance trip to the hospital for further evaluation. Before we knew it, there was an air ambulance helicopter from Reach overhead, looking for a landing site! So, we ended up taking the patient via our ambulance to the landing site, and "hot loading" the patient into the helicopter. Its been a long time since I have done that. I had to keep reminding one of the volunteer firefighters that showed up to keep his head down... I don't need a fatality out there from the helicopter blades. For those who don't understand hot loading, the helicopter is still running, moving the rotors and blades. Its a gigantic guillotine if you aren't damn careful. The Reach guys were very professional, BTW. Nice working with you guys!

So, how did we end up with the helicopter? We certainly didn't request it. We felt the patient was stable enough to go by ground transport. It seems that they couldn't get a normal ambulance out to us in a reasonable time, so the dispatch center for Yuba County sent them out. This was after the ambulance was dispatched. Right after we loaded the patient, we saw the rig on its way in to Camp Far West... they turned around and left.