LifeTeam Pilot: "Conditions Were Right"

Making sure their patient got the most out of the critical Golden Hour, a Midwest LifeTeam medical helicopter took a chance last Thursday and landed on top of a flour mill silo as part of a rescue effort in Newton, KS.

An employee of Horizon Milling got one of his arms caught in a conveyor belt 130 feet up in the grain elevator. While trying to free that arm, the other arm became entangled. Rescue workers were forced to dismantle the machine to extricate the unidentified worker, according to KWCH Channel 12 News. 

It took rescue workers about 20 minutes to free the man. They then took him to the waiting Bell 206 (shown above) that had landed on top of the grain silo.

"I've never see a helicopter land on something like that.   I knew something happened. I knew somebody got hurt or something," witness Bob Weber said.

Had the helicopter not made the rather precarious the landing, firefighters would have had to lower the man using rappelling equipment that likely would have taken longer than an hour.

LifeTeam Pilot Randy Nevens told ANN he worked closely with Cargill Meats, owner of the mill, and the scene commander in his decision to land on top of the silo. After gathering structural integrity and weather information, he decided the time was right for such a move.

"It was early in the day and our usual wind hadn't yet started. All the conditions were in our favor to successfully make this rescue," he said.

He credits the medical team, Flight Nurse Brenda LeBaron and Flight Paramedic David Owen with helping the situation to such a positive outcome.

"They worked fast and got him (the patient) on board quickly," he said.

The man was then airlifted to a Wichita hospital where he underwent several hours of surgery for wounds and fractures on both arms and was reportedly able to move his fingers.

The Golden Hour is a term used to describe the first sixty minutes after a traumatic injury has occurred. The faster advanced medical intervention occurs, the better a patient's chance for survival.

A spokeswoman for Cargill Meats said this is its first work place accident in Newton in ten years.

FMI: www.midwestlifeteam.com, www.horizonmilling.com