ANN ARBOR, MI - On May 16, 1983, Michigan's first hospital-based helicopter service lifted off from a small landing pad in the University of Michigan Hospital courtyard. That flight - staffed with a pilot, a flight nurse and a physician was the first of 25,000 missions Survival Flight would embark upon to save lives.

Today, the U-M Health System's Survival Flight has grown to include a high-tech helipad built along the hillside of the hospital, specialized ground transports, three twin-engine Bell 430 helicopters and a Cessna Citation Fixed-Wing Jet, which carries patients of all ages, and even transplant organs, across the state and continental North America.

Survival Flight's 50-member crew, now dressed in maize and blue flight jumpsuits with steel-toed boots, includes a highly skilled team of registered nurses, physicians, communications specialists, pilots and mechanics.

A lot has changed in 20 years. But Survival Flight's commitment to excellence in patient care has held steadfast throughout the years. The crew has continued to provide air and ground emergency triage and care to critically ill or injured patients around the clock, making Survival Flight one of the top air ambulance programs in the nation.

"All of us at Survival Flight - from pilots, flight nurses and doctors in the air to dispatchers, communications experts, maintenance crews and Emergency Department staff on the ground - take great pride in how far we've advanced our services, medical technology and expert skills during the past 20 years," says Mark J. Lowell, M.D., Survival Flight medical director and clinical assistant professor in the U-M Medical School's Department of Emergency Medicine.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Survival Flight will be hosting an event to thank its patients, their families, and the community for their support on Saturday, May 17. The event will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Survival Flight hangar at the Ann Arbor Airport, 747 Airport Drive in Ann Arbor.

Past U-M patients from across Michigan, including Lisa Wing of Livonia, plan to attend the event to meet with the Survival Flight crew who played an important role in their care and recovery.

In August last year, Wing was involved in a serious automobile accident. The Livonia Fire Department freed Wing from the wreckage and transported her to a local hospital. But with critical injuries that needed specialized care, Wing was soon flown to U-M Hospital by a Survival Flight helicopter.

Although Wing, a U-M student, says the events of that day are still hazy, she remembers very clearly the care and emotional support she receive from flight nurse specialist Mary Kay Smith, B.S.N. Smith, who was aboard the Survival Flight helicopter that transported Wing to U-M, quickly became one of Wings' most frequent visitors during her stay at U-M Hospital.

"Mary Kay was really there for me and my family after the accident," says Wing. "It's great how the entire Survival Flight crew really cares and gets involved with their patients - it's so much more than I ever expected from a medical staff."

Even after she left the hospital, the crew continued to be very involved in Wing's life. Under the guise of a tour of the Survival Flight facilities, Smith and the crew helped Wing's fiancé arrange a very special surprise one month after her accident - a wedding proposal on Survival Flight's new helipad.

The couple plans to wed later this month and, following the ceremony, Wing says her family will release red, maize and blue balloons in recognition of the Livonia Fire Department's and the Survival Flight crew's efforts to save her life.

Survival Flight has also been involved in several other special events, including flying the Detroit Red Wings' Steve Yzerman, Steve Duchesne and the Stanley Cup to U-M C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in 2002 to visit patients. And for three years, Survival Flight has been the Gold Cup's Official Air Ambulance at the annual Spirit of Detroit Thunderfest in Detroit. It also signed on last year to provide air ambulance support at the Michigan International Speedway, which hosts events such as NASCAR each summer.

However, some of Survival Flight's greatest accomplishments in the past 20 years have been its increased capability to care for the most critically ill and injured patients, including nine patients injured in the Ford Rouge Plant explosion in 1999.

Denise Landis, R.N., who became a flight nurse with Survival Flight in 1984, remembers when Survival Flight was once a single helicopter patient transport system that lacked even air conditioning. Now, with three medical helicopters and a fixed wing jet, Survival Flight flies an average of 1,400 missions each year.

"It's amazing how we've evolved into a program with such medically advanced mobile intensive care aircrafts," says Landis, who is now manager of critical care transport. "With new medical technology now available we're able to transport some of the most critically ill and injured patients in from hospitals and accident sites to UMHS for specialized care, aid in rescue operations and transport harvest teams for organ donations."

Among the advanced technologies used by Survival Flight teams are the ECMO life-support technology pioneered at UMHS, special isolettes for critically ill newborns, temporary artificial heart and heart-assist devices and spinal cord stabilization equipment.

For more information, including a timeline of Survival Flight's 20-year history, visit www.med.umich.edu/survival_flight/.

Survival Flight Time Line

Survival Flight Fun Facts

Written by: Krista Hopson

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