Juddson:
Yes. I’m Juddson Smith. That’s me, and this is Derrick Boisey. Today, we are doing an EMTalk episode on flight medics and being in helicopters or airplanes. And luckily, we’ve got Derrick, a pilot and a flight medic. We’re going to talk a lot about that, but I’ve never flown in a helicopter, and I’m hoping that the result is that I get to fly in a helicopter.
Juddson:
So, you must figure that out for sure. Either you will have to make it happen, or I will have to jump off a building or something, like in the middle of nowhere.
Derrick:
Oh, that wouldn’t be good.
Juddson:
Well, it might result in a helicopter ride. Oh, yeah. It could be worth it. Who knows?
Juddson:
So, Derek, why don’t you start? Tell me when you got into EMS.
Derrick:
Let’s see, I got into EMS about 11 years ago. Man, it sounds long now that I’ve said it out loud. Yeah, about 11 years ago, maybe even 12. Started as an EMT. EMT, just like everyone else does.
Derrick:
I started going through firefighting school out of high school, so that would have been around 2010. The funny story is that I never even wanted to be a firefighter. EMT like that had never crossed my mind. So why was I a firefighter? So, I was trying to become a pilot.
Derrick:
So, I’m a pilot now. It’s just a private single engine plane right now. Working my way up. But at the time, going through high school and everything, I wanted to be a pilot. Whether in the military or commercially, the military at the time was like, nope, your eyesight’s too bad.
Derrick:
And, you know, you go to the recruiter’s offices, and they try to fill you up with a bunch of information to get you to join. And then, you know, hey, you can join us for a couple of years, be a mechanic, and then, you know, submit your flight package. And then I was like, I don’t want to do that.
Derrick:
I want to go in as a pilot. Well, that wasn’t happening. And there, you know, Lasik wasn’t 100% approved, or so they told me, and PR, or maybe it was PRK. I can’t. You had to get it while you’re in.
Juddson:
I have no idea what either of those letters means.
Derrick:
Yeah. So, PCA or PRK, whichever one it is, is, is they don’t use the laser. It’s pretty much they take a, a blade to your eye and scrape it until your vision is better, I guess.
Derrick:
So, anyway, the military was a go for me. Check with every single branch. And, I was like, okay, I’ll go the commercial route. Well, at that time, the economy took a hit. All the airline schools were closing, and pilots were getting laid off.
Derrick:
So, they have all the hours already. And, it was still, you know, 100 plus grand to go to an airline school. And regional pilots at that time were only making $25,000 a year. And I was like, man, that does not sound feasible. You know, coming straight out of high school with that kind of loan and not making much money.
Derrick:
So, at that point, I was lost. And my cousin hit me up, and I was like, hey, man, I’m going to firefighter school. Do you want to go? And I was like, well, I was currently on the volunteer fire department, just as fun, but I was like, you know what?
Derrick:
Sure. I mean, I liked being in the volunteer fire department. I’ll go ahead and try this firefighting thing out. I went to the fire academy, completed it, and did some more volunteer work over there. Volunteer work in New Mexico was a whole different ballgame than here. It’s a lot busier, and there are a lot more wildland fires. It was just crazy.
Derrick:
Well, then it was like, you know, if you want to be a firefighter anywhere decent, you need to have your EMT. I was like, okay, well, I guess I’ll go to EMS school. Well, I started going through EMT and then they came out and said, well, you really want to get on to a good department, you need to have your paramedic.
Derrick:
And I was like, man, y’all are just going to keep adding stuff on now. So anyways, I wasn’t feeling the whole EMT gig at the time, and I dropped out. I wanted to be a firefighter. That’s what I went to school for. I didn’t want to have anything to do with medicine.
Derrick:
I moved back here to Abilene. Just got a regular job being a waiter. I was a bartender for quite a while.
Juddson:
Where, Famous Dave’s. And it was only here for, like, what, three years? I it was a northeast barbecue, commercialized barbecue place trying to make it in West Texas.
Derrick:
It was never going to happen. Can’t fight West Texas Barbecue, wasn’t going to happen. So, at that point, I got tired of the bartending gig. I was like, all right, I better go ahead and finish this firefighting thing out. So, I went to TSTC, Texas State Technical College, to get my EMS. So, you know, it’s here in Abilene.
Derrick:
And I had tried online classes before, I know our program here at Texas EMS School is an online program, but, you know, it’s not personal. It’s not for everyone. And it wasn’t for me because I often procrastinated back when I was younger. So, anyways, I was like, I’m going to go sit down, I’m going to do this.
Derrick:
I’m going to knock it out. It wasn’t till the very end of the EMT program that you have extrication day, and the helicopter came out, and I at that point, I had no idea that that was even a profession. No clue.
Derrick:
So, as soon as I saw them come to TSTC, I was like, what do you have to do to become a flight medic? That’s where it all started. And, so, you know, they told me, you must be a paramedic, you must have at least three years, which a lot of companies in the metroplex areas and busier services require.
Derrick:
There’s five years, four years, or three years. And you, you know, it was a very sought out position. So, it was tough for you to get in because it’s competitive. From that moment on, firefighting ultimately left my mind. Like, I didn’t want to do firefighting anymore.
Derrick:
I was like if I can’t be a pilot, at least I can do this and be in the air. You know, it was the closest thing to being a pilot. So, I got my EMT and went straight into paramedic school. I worked as an EMT through paramedic school. I finished paramedic school, got hired on, here locally as a paramedic.
Derrick:
I made sure to keep my connections with people, and we had a couple of people who worked part time for the ambulance service here. I kept in contact with them, seeing if there was anything that I could do, even tag along to help, not even to get on the helicopter. Just hang out and get my name out there; it worked out for me.
Derrick:
My boss now was the boss back then. She’s been there, I think, for 15, or 16 years. Pretty close. So, she told me about this internship program. You can enter the internship program six months before my three-year mark, and I was like, okay, sweet. I’m going to go ahead and do that.
Derrick:
That’s your foot in the door because it’s all your new hire training. You get knocked out before you even get hired. Yeah. So, I was like, awesome. So, she got me into that right at two and a half years. And I remember waking up; we were so busy when I was at Metro Care that I was sleeping in the office quite often.
Derrick:
That was back when they were doing three trucks, but it was rough. So, I remember waking up that morning, and I had put it in my calendar; who knows how long ago? Three years. And I woke up that morning, and as soon as my alarm went off, and it said three years, I called my boss right after.
Derrick:
It was like, hey, I hit my three-year mark. Do you have a spot open? She said, you know what? You’re in luck. We have a medic that’s testing out for her nursing. She said we can go ahead and get you hired, and we’ll hire you part-time until that full-time spot comes open.
Derrick:
Perfect. There’s my in. That’s where it all started. So, I was a paramedic for three years, and right at my three year mark, I got hired on a part-time job and ended up going full time flight medic, probably about six months later, at a different base close to here in Eastland, about 45 minutes away. I worked out in Eastland for about five years.
Derrick:
I’ve been back in our hometown, Abilene, since. So, I’ve been flying for close to eight years now, seven, eight years. It doesn’t feel like that one. No, not at all. That’s how it went by so quickly.
Juddson:
Well, for some backstory, Derek was my, lead preceptor. My capstone preceptor when I went through paramedic school, which was an odd relationship because Derek and I are about 4 or 5 years apart age-wise, right?
Juddson:
Yeah, let’s say so. It was like, here’s this young guy already doing what I want to do, and he is teaching me how to do what I want to do, which was excellent. It wasn’t weird, and I don’t trust this guy. Is this different? Because this is my second career. I was in ministry first, and so then I got into EMS.
Juddson:
But I think you’ve been in EMS for almost 14 years. Probably because who’s at this point this year will be like almost this will be 12 years for me.
Derrick:
Oh, wow. When we start saying this out loud, we’re in double digits. It’s like, where did the time go? It’s just gone.
Juddson:
Your time seems well-spent, though.
Juddson:
I mean, so you you’ve accomplished a lot in that period. The whole pilot thing. So, you finally get to be a pilot, which is super cool. I never realized that that was such a big aspiration for you. Yep. For sure. I just finally had it. Well, one was the time, and two was just. I was able to find some people locally, right?
Derrick:
It wasn’t through, like, a school or anything. I was just able to find a great guy. His name is Gary Potter. He’s out at Elm Dale. There’s, like, a good group of guys out there. And I know the guy that, Rodney, he owns the airport out there.
Derrick:
And he let me use his plane, and Gary taught me for an excellent price. And I thought, if I’m going to do it, let’s do it. You know? It was just like, I got to do it now, you come to a certain point in your life, and this comes down to anything that you do, that if you don’t bite the bullet, and do it, you’re probably never going to do it.
Derrick:
Yeah. And I was at that point in my life. If I don’t do this right now, now that these people have come into my life, offered me assistance, this guy offered me his plane, offered to teach me. If I don’t accept this now, then I am never going to do it.
Juddson:
Yeah. It’s like a perfect opportunity. Yeah. I feel the same way when I look at a box of donuts. If I don’t take this opportunity now, will I ever get it again?
Juddson:
I like to keep my aspirations a little lower. So, I’m just pumped every day because I get what I want. Now, that’s all super cool, so what’s the next goal like? Is your goal to continue being a flight medic, or is it to eventually transition into being a full-time pilot?
Derrick:
I will always be a flight medic. I’ve come to the realization that I love what I do. And you know, it’s kind of crazy because, like I said, I never wanted to be a firefighter. I never wanted to be a paramedic, EMS, or anything like that. But as soon as I started doing it, I, like, instantly fell in love.
Derrick:
Yeah. And I, I don’t know if that’s just kind of like, works with how my personality and just just how, I don’t know, like how I function, I guess because EMS is one of those scarce jobs where you wake up every day, and you have no idea what’s going to happen. Yeah, like I can’t see myself, unfortunately for you, sitting at a desk.
Derrick:
Handling stuff the same all the time. It’s just not me. I like going to work even though, you know. Yes, I do work in a helicopter every single time. Yes, I do; I stay on the same base daily. I still don’t know what’s going to happen. Everything’s new.
Derrick:
So, I, I’m constantly running into new stuff. As soon as I got on the helicopter doing pure medicine, that was it. I will do this for the rest of my life; I’m a lifer.
Derrick:
I’m still going to work on my pilot. I plan on doing my pilot stuff part-time. You know, it’s going to take time. It’s going to be a process. But I do want to fly commercially, not through the airlines or anything, but just for, you know, someone local who owns their own plane. Fly once every couple of months or something like that.
Derrick:
And that’s exactly what I want to do. If I can do some of these pilots, I’ll end up with such ridiculous gigs that they’re making real good money. Oh. I’m jealous. Yeah, it’s all the same. It’s amazing. It’s great.
Juddson:
Well, I feel the same way about how I wandered into EMS. It was never on my agenda. Being a firefighter was never on my agenda. Initially, when I went to school, I went to Texas Tech in the pre-med program. I was going to become a doctor. That was my goal. One day, I woke up, and I was like, I’m going to be a pastor.
Juddson:
And I left Texas Tech and went to get a theology degree because I thought that was what was necessary. I don’t know; I somehow wound up back in the medical field and ended up doing this. I started EMS becaus I wanted to be a firefighter.
Juddson:
It just seemed like a stable job. And I hate being stagnant. I don’t necessarily like doing the same thing every day. My job here ends up being different every day, which is nice. Because it’s like, being in charge of an EMS school is like being in charge at an EMS station sometimes it’s just, here’s the problems, solve them.
Juddson:
That’s what I do every day here, which is kind of fun.
Derrick:
It’s been crazy to see you advance in your career, too, like you said. You know, I was your preceptor when you were in paramedic school. And then suddenly, you’re the head of this organization that has such a far outreach in such a small amount of time, considering what you’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time with as many students as you have.
Derrick:
The success rate of those students is astounding. It’s crazy.
Juddson:
Well, I appreciate that. And I’m glad that that’s what the outcome was, because when we started, it was like, I hope we get four students this month. And then it, and it just started taking off and, and then, you know, immediately when I was thinking of people that I thought would be good instructors, I thought of you, because you were my, I guess, my template for what a good paramedic is.
Juddson:
Because that’s who taught me to be a paramedic. And so, naturally, I was like, well, he could be a good template for everybody. Eventually, I tried to find a way to get you to be a part of it, and you ended up doing that. If anybody is not aware, Derek does work for us part-time, in the background, mostly doing grading and reaching out to students here and there when necessary.
Juddson:
Okay, so let’s get into the fun part of the helicopter stuff. Naturally, every person not in EMS always asks EMS professionals, what’s the craziest call you’ve ever had? I am an EMS, but I still like that question because it’s fun. Especially when you’re talking to somebody that knows about it. So, what is, you know, within HIPAA, what is the craziest call you’ve ever had?
Derrick:
Right. I will try to explain this call as best I can. It’s crazy because when people used to ask me that question, I would typically have like no idea what to say. I’m like, man, I’ve seen so much stuff as, you know, and then spout off a call. But, man, this one, now that anybody ever asks me, this is the one that I always go to because it is by far the one.
Derrick:
This is God’s work. This is a miracle. We respond to an area for a gunshot wound. That’s all we’re told. Is that it’s a gunshot wound, and that this kid is, I think it’s like four years old or five, so we’re like, okay, we already know it’s going to be serious.
Derrick:
Yeah. I mean, that’s all the information we got. Four-year-old gunshot wound, you know, and then they won’t even tell you if it’s a kid or not because they don’t want you to make your flight decision-based. We’ll go in more than that when we start talking about flight. Oh, there is a little bit more on the flight side and stuff.
Juddson:
But yeah, exactly. Like they won’t give you complete mission details until they know that you’re on your way. So, we were well on our way, but at that moment in time, I think that the patient wasn’t even at the hospital yet. I mean, they just knew that this was bad, and they needed a helicopter there and that it would be at the hospital.
Derrick:
So, me and my partner were already discussing treatment plans, what we’re going to do for this kid, where are we going to take this kid. You know, that’s a significant factor when it comes down to helicopter transport. Depending on where you’re going, the winds, the weather, etc.
Derrick:
We’re talking with our pilot. We’re looking all this stuff up, deciding where we will get it all planned out. We get there, and it’s a good friend of mine. And you would know him if I told you. I’m just going to not say his name on here, just for, again, HIPAA reasons.
Derrick:
Because as soon as I start spouting off too many details, people will start recollecting this. Right. But he was there, and I was like, okay, so me and him are talking. He’s the paramedic on the scene. And he’s explaining to me everything that that happened. And long story short, this kid was shot in the head with a nine-millimeter or 45, large caliber pistol.
Derrick:
And the doctors actively trying to intubate him, he’s having some difficulties, but ends up getting the airway. And I’m looking at this kid and, looking at his head, and, I mean, there’s brain matter showing, and there’s an obvious, complete skull fracture. And he’s got vitals, but instantly, me and my partner looking like, you know, this kid has vitals now, but the chances of him making it are less than 1%, right?
Juddson:
Seeing brain matter usually. Yeah. It’s like you’re just like, he is not going to make it. But it’s a kid. So, you know, when it comes down to kids, it’s just like there’s a whole different feel in the room when it’s a kid. I mean, you see everyone trying to do everything they can for critical patients all the time, but you can tell that when it’s a kid, there’s a different feel in the room about things.
Derrick:
It kind of hits you different, what it is for a lot of people, and I didn’t realize this until not very long ago, is like when you have kids, especially when they’re around the same age, it does hit you different. Yeah. At that time, I didn’t. I was in a very work state of mind.
Derrick:
I was on my A-game and everything. But there were a couple of people in there that were, like, frantic just because of how old this kid was. So anyways, we, you know, get this, this kid was pretty to go fully expecting that he’s probably going to pass during the flight. And he doesn’t know which would, in and out of itself, be a miracle.
Derrick:
We get him to the hospital, get him into the pediatric unit in the metroplex area, and hand them off. And in those pediatric unit teams, they get, you know, they get going, do their own work, and are great at it. That was pretty much the end of that call for us.
Derrick:
Us just getting them there was already a miracle. Later, I found out that that kid survived with a full recovery and no neurological deficits, not much more than a scar across his head where they did the surgery. He’s wearing a helmet. He’s smiling. He’s back in school. That’s almost impossible. Amazing! I would not even have ever thought that that was going to happen.
Juddson:
No, never. I know what incident you’re talking about. I’m aware of it. And it. Yeah, there’s really no other word to describe it, in my opinion, than a miracle. If that was the definition, that would be it for me. Yeah. I don’t think I’ll ever have a call that tops that one. That is incredible.
Juddson:
You’re right. As every EMS professional knows, the calls with kids are totally different. You go above and beyond if you have an A-game. In those instances, if you’re a good medic, and, you know, I’ve been there, I’ve had the calls, and they did not have the same outcome, with kids and, you know, having a kid like you mentioned after the fact, now that you have, you know, you have kids. Still, now that you have a baby and you’re seeing it from that age, like it, it feels different for sure.
Derrick:
I agree, it’s just a clarity you have to have when you’re in that mindset that makes people good medics. It’s something you have to have. And if you can’t force yourself to do that, you shouldn’t be a medic.
Derrick:
You can’t function if you can’t do that. Yeah. And much of it comes down to where you’re at, too. Yeah. You know, I mean, you’ve also worked rural, you know, your hometown back in the day, and, you know, to a lot of people, pediatric patients are something that you only come across sometimes.
Derrick:
Right. And typically, when you do, because kids are so resilient, they become severe. And just like with anything else in life, if you don’t do something repeatedly or practice for it over and over and over again when the time comes, you’re not going to be prepared, right? And that doesn’t necessarily make you a lousy medic.
Derrick:
It’s just it’s just like with anything, with a lack of preparation. But it’s just circumstance. Intubation is one of those things that, like, some people do it all the time. It just in the setting they’re in. Most people, though, most medics, do not do it that often. Yeah. And so to be good at it means practicing it when you’re not doing it.
Derrick:
You need to be doing those reps, just like working out. How often do I have to lift the heavy weight over my head? Not very frequently, but I work out. So that way, when I do, I can still do that thing. You do the same thing with EMS; you work out the things that you know you’re not going to do often to get better at it.
Juddson:
But we lack something in EMS because we don’t often practice those pediatric calls. It’s not that the pediatric body is treated differently. It’s more so being able to handle that mentally, which is more challenging than anything. You can’t train for that.
Derrick:
And that part’s hard is you can’t train to mentally handle that because no matter what scenario, you know, if it’s a simulation, it’s still a simulation at the end of the day. Right. So yeah, I agree with that. A lot of it is that people try to pass off pediatric patients, you know, with something that is super easy.
Derrick:
If you ever have a pediatric patient, grab the Broselow tape; it tells you everything. Yeah, well, guess what? If you don’t ever use the Broselow tape, you got in and out of itself can be, you know, make a disaster. That thing could be more intuitive, and it isn’t.
Juddson:
I still look at it a few times to understand how to use it and what it’s for, and it only answers some of the questions. Nope. It sure doesn’t. The anatomy is different in children. You know, it is a little bit difficult to get an IV, It’s more difficult for Intubations and stuff like that. And in the flight world, we realize that.
Derrick:
Right. That goes for any flight company, not just air evac. A lot of our training, when it
comes down to quarterly training or half-year training or whatever that is, a lot of air ambulance
services really focus on, you know, low population, high acuity patients, your, high-risk OB
patients, your pediatric patients with whether it’s severe trauma or whether it’s, a complicated
medical call.
Derrick: It’s like, do you know how to administer these medications correctly to this patient
population? Right. Because a lot of it you must mix. If you don’t know how to mix D5 or D10 and
use a stopcock to be able to administer it to a patient and stuff like if you don’t practice that
often enough, you know, come the time to do it, you’re going to you’re not going to look good.
Derrick: You’re going to have to, you’re going to have to put on a brave face to, to make it look
like you’re not confused about what you’re doing, which, I mean, I, I do find value in being able
to do that because there’s no way to prepare for every situation. Right. And so sometimes you
do have to stay calm and give the impression that everything’s fine.
Derrick: You try to figure out how to handle it. But there are things that we could easily spend
time doing when we’re not running calls that we don’t. I mean, in my understanding and my
experience, we don’t practice things like that very often. But it’s good to know that, like, you
know, there are in the flight community.
Derrick: Those are the things like, you guys focus on the things that you know you’re not going
to see as often so that you can practice it and be prepared to do it. I think that’s what’s really
cool. So here’s where we go from here. I mentioned earlier that they don’t always give you a
whole lot of information.
Juddson: And before you go on a call. What do you get when you when you’re about to go on a
call?
Derrick: So typically, whenever we get a call, the dispatch center is going to tell us whether it’s a
transfer, whether it’s a scene call. The rough location of where it’s at a distance and a heading.
Derrick:
That’s it. You don’t tell us what the patient is. You don’t tell us anything. They just say, hey, you
know six three, you’ve got a transfer flight, a request coming out of Haskell. You’re heading is
going to be, I don’t even know. Just off the top of my head. Probably, like three, four zero for,
you know, 40 nautical miles.
Juddson: I have no idea what a nautical mile.
Derrick: Then they give us a card number, which is our just our call number. And they, you know,
and they say, can you accept? That’s about it. And that gives us the opportunity to know if we
are able to take it because pilots have FAA rules that they have to follow if they’re going to time
out or not.
Derrick: Which our company, we look at that in the sense of, can you make, the trip with the
patient to the receiving facility before the pilot times out? We don’t look at the entire call back.
Gotcha. We’re only worried about getting the patient where they need to go. If we get stuck
somewhere, we get stuck somewhere. We just happened.
Derrick: We look at weather and we look at where we’re going to be able to go, and then we
choose to accept the call based on that information. After that, they still don’t give us any
information. It sounds like we just get all our stuff, and we load up in the helicopter, we get
going, pilot talks to ATC, we get prepared for the call.
Derrick: Then we call hours and come back, and we say that we’re in the air. We give them a
flight plan. And then we request additional information. We would be in the air already at this
point. The only exception to that is if there’s a patient coming out of, the hospital here, which
we’re based at.
Derrick: You choose whether to accept or decline. And then once you’re in the air, then they
give you the information.
Juddson: Boy, that makes it difficult.
Derrick: Yeah, it makes it real difficult because you could be finding out while you’re on the way
what terrible thing you’re walking into. Or you could deny flight and later find out you denied a
flight for other reasons. Sometimes you beat yourself up over for not going to try to handle it.
Derrick: What it comes down to is just safety of all the crews because it has happened, you
know, and that’s why this system is in place. Right. I, I’m not going to say that it’s happened with
this company because I don’t know for 100% sure, but I’m sure somewhere, somehow, some
company, it was found out that that was the reason why, you know, they accepted a call that
they shouldn’t. I mean, sometimes it could be someone that really does need a helicopter,
right? And we just can’t do it now. It’s just not it’s not feasible, for the safety of the crew.
Derrick: And, you know, everyone lives by the rule, in the air ambulance community, it takes,
three to go, one to say no. We all must be comfortable. If one of you says, I don’t feel right
about this, it’s off.
Derrick: There could be a call that comes in. Again, we don’t know any information, but there’s,
you know, some weather, something building up or, it’s nighttime and maybe, you know, some
weather station to reporting haze or whatever the case may be, low visibility, yada, yada, yada.
Walk outside. Look. And it’s like, man, it looks good.
Derrick:
Let’s go ahead and take it. And the pilot will discuss, you know, with that, this is what I’m seeing
and this is what I’m good with taking it. How do y’all feel? And we’re all around this computer
looking at everything he’s looking at. It’s not like he’s hiding anything from us.
Derrick: Right? So, you know, most of the time we say, yeah, let’s go. We’re good. These pilots
have over 2000 hours, and most of them are ex-military. And, I mean, these guys are very well
trained. Then they know, you know what they can and cannot take. So, we’ll end up going and
then, you know, halfway through the flight, you know, there ends up being low clouds and we
that we might be able to, or that we’re fixing to go into, or the thunderstorms have gotten
bigger or whatever, and then we’ll have to abort.
Juddson: I mean, that’s something that happens often. And that’s rough because at that point
you probably do know what you’re going to.
Derrick: Yeah, that is very true. Yeah. There are times where we do know we’re going to at that
point. And then, you know, it’s just stuff beyond our control happens and we can’t do it. And
that doesn’t even have to be just weather or anything like that.
Derrick: Something can happen with the helicopter. We can get a chip light, which means that
there’s, you know, medical particles somewhere, sensed somewhere in the transmission, which
could cause, you know, a catastrophic failure of some point. So, you’re supposed to land
immediately to get looked at. They make a sensor for that. Yep. There are sensors for
everything.
Derrick: So, I mean, there’s stuff that just happens beyond your control and it is what it is at that
point.
Juddson: Well, and I definitely am not advocating that it my line of questioning may seem like
I’m like, oh, you jerks, you don’t take the calls. I don’t feel that way at all. I think the way y’all are
doing it is absolutely the best way to do it.
Derrick: Because, you know, we got three dead providers who’s going to help the next person.
Right.
Juddson: It’s the same concept for, for EMS. You know safety first is my scene safe. And the
problem is y’all scene is huge because you’ve got to consider the air. You’ve got to consider
where you’re going, where you’re going to go later.
Derrick: You’ve got so many factors involved in, and you’ve even got to consider, you know, what
happens with the altitude and how it affects what you’re doing and or true, you know. And so
it’s just a it’s a lot to consider. You know, you we do these scenarios in the education world. And
I’ve tried to avoid this where the oh yeah, the scenes just aren’t safe.
Derrick: Don’t worry about it. Scenes always safe. And I don’t think we’re really doing anybody
any favors by doing that. Like, nope. We need to teach people how to determine if the scene
really is safe or not. And I think some of that is intuitive in your world. It’s not in your world. It’s
a lot more complicated than that.
Juddson:
In the ground world, most of the time, you know, it’s pretty evident when it feels like a scene is
unsafe. It’s you can see it unless you’re Zach. Did you watch that episode?
Derrick: I did, and I was actually working on shift that day when he had come in, on that call.
That was that was a hectic day. But, for it to happen to anybody else like it would have been
devastating. But Zach, giant dude who can handle himself, it’s a little different.
Juddson: That story that was crazy. That one gave me goosebumps. So, being on the helicopter.
What? Let’s start with your biggest fear.
Juddson: I mean, I could guess what your biggest fear is when you’re flying, but do you think
about what do you think about most often that that might bring fear to you? And you’re on the
helicopter?
Derrick: Man, I really don’t. I can’t really say I’ve ever really thought about a fear. I guess
everyone’s fear would be, you know, just the thought of just having, a catastrophic failure that
you couldn’t recover from, right? I mean, because then everything’s just out of your hands at
that point. Do I really think about it?
Derrick: Not a whole lot. I’m very comfortable in the air. I would imagine some people that, you
know, don’t mind flying, but still have some legit fears, right? Would be able to tell you a little
bit more. I just that’s just not something that I’ve, really thought about, which, like I said, I’m a
I’m a small engine, fixed wing pilot.
Derrick: But I’ve been around aviation for most of my life, and I’ve talked to a lot of pilots. And
those guys, like I said, they know what they’re doing. Right. And that in and out of itself makes
me comfortable. Like, I don’t have any doubts that the pilots that I fly with in an emergency
wouldn’t be able to do everything that they could to get us on the ground safely, if that was to
ever happen.
Derrick: Now, we did recently have a crash in Oklahoma with three crew member fatalities. But
that was just completely out of their hands. It was night. It was nighttime, low altitude. A
whole flock of geese flew into the helicopter, at that point, we don’t have 100% details on
exactly what happened.
Derrick: With that. But, you know, it was able to cause such a catastrophic failure that there was
absolutely no way that that pilot was going to pull out of that. And that’s just the inherent risk
of what we do. Right? There’s not really a way out of that. And the chances of that specific
incident ever happening again is probably zero to none.
Juddson: Yeah. Well, and I think that speaks to your mind set more than reality because I do
think it’s a legitimate fear to have. Right. But the fact that you’ve accepted that is just part of
what you do is, is what makes, you know, these people become flight medics is that they’re
okay. It’s acceptable.
Derrick:
I can deal with that. Yeah, that’s just the risk. I’m taking. I think my biggest fear, really, out of all
of that is not necessarily what happens to me, but the effect it would have on my family.
Juddson: Yeah, I feel the same way. Like when I’m when I’m thinking about what I worry about,
it’s not about me. It’s about the aftermath of that event.
Juddson: Yeah, is what bothers me the most. I get you in that. That makes sense. Okay, so what
is your favorite part about flying?
Derrick: Oh, man. All, all of it really, in my job, everything is always different. I’m always coming
across new things, where, you know, get new equipment.
Derrick: That in and of itself keeps everything kind of fresh. We’re, we’re in a transition right
now of moving from his old to a Hamilton T1 ventilator. Super excited about that. So again, you
know, it just gives us an opportunity to be able to do more for our patients because that
monitor is, that ventilators. Amazing.
Derrick: It’s a small computer that is probably way smarter than I am. Oh, we both of us
combined, to be quite honest, it’s impossible. But, you know, I got to do hurricane deployments,
with this company, which is something that I’ve never done before. I’ve never done any sort of
disaster deployments. That was a new experience in and out of itself.
Juddson: It is very cool to see something like that. What are you doing? A deployment with a
helicopter for that situation. Like what is what are you doing with your time there? Oh man.
Nothing. I, it was the oh, man. It was like, yeah, I mean I enjoyed it, I, I always anywhere I man I
try and find something to do to where it’s at least somewhat enjoyable.
Derrick: But going to it was Hurricane Harvey, I think in 2017. It was there was just a lot of sitting
and waiting around for the most part, because, again, just because we’re in Hurricane
deployment doesn’t mean we’re going to start accepting calls that we would not otherwise take
on a normal day, we are not going to push weather.
Derrick: We’re not going to do, you know, all this strenuous things to try and take calls. So a lot
of it was just, waiting to see what areas were, you know, surrounded by water, what areas were
very hard to get to with ground vehicle, stuff like that. And just being able to not stress out all
the systems in place is pretty much what we were there for.
Derrick: I was able to take patient flights on that hurricane deployment. I was able to go see
different places that were seen. We did a lot of flying around the coast, which I’ve never done
before. So that was, you know, just little stuff like that to me is cool. So, got to see how, you
know, FEMA operates and, just all the systems that they have in place for disaster response, all
all that stuff was just, really cool to see and be a part of.
Derrick:
But other than that, I just like being in there. That’s just my favorite part. And then being able to
take care of these patients, while being in the air, is really cool. I like being a paramedic. It’s
something that I have fell in love with.
Derrick: I get to do what I went to school for, which is nice. Being a part of air, ambulance
service, I was, you know, I’m introduced to now taking care of a lot of, infusions and starting a
lot of infusions and looking at labs and treating based on that stuff, which you would not do on
the ground.
Derrick: No, it’s just especially not, you know, here in Abilene, Texas the closest hospitals is five
minutes away. Yeah. You know, even when I was working out in Haskell with you, I got to do
more out there than I did here in Abilene. Just because of how far you are away from the right
facility for that patient.
Derrick: That’s why I think I like flying the most. It’s just being able to utilize more skills and then
also be in the, there at the same time. Have you ever been parachuting or skydiving? My wife
took me skydiving on my 30th birthday.
Juddson: I was about to say, I think you should try that before you continue your career in the in
the helicopter, just to know what it’s like when you do fall out. What was skydiving like? I’ve
never done it.
Derrick: It is not what I expected it to be. I guess if you’ve never done it before, I think you, you
would think that you would get, like, butterflies in your stomach or, you know, something along
that extent.
Derrick: Kind of like a roller coaster or something. But when you, when you jump out of a plane,
me, my wife both said this. It wasn’t anything like that. It just got really loud, really quick. And
then it was just like everything was still, you could take the time to look around and see
everything. And you don’t feel the drop?
Derrick: No. Because if you think about it, you’re already going, what, 120 miles an hour in a
plane? Oh, so there’s not as much acceleration, right? You’re not you’re not going from zero to
whatever it is. So, you don’t. And that and we had that discussion afterwards. But at least you
got to enjoy looking around.
Derrick:
It was it was very cool. But, a lot of people I think, you know, it’s so funny because I wear a vest
when I work, carry all my stuff in it. Felix. My partner, he was my preceptor when I was on the
ground. And we’re partners now. You’re on the air. Who is your capstone preceptor? Yeah.
Juddson: That’s funny. Yeah. He gave me my paramedic patch, and I gave him his first set of
wings.
Derrick: I always carry everything in my vest, and he carries nothing because he relies on me, so
he says. It’s like me with trauma shears.
Derrick: And then I always just turn to whoever’s with me. I’m like, you got traumas shears? So
they always ask me, you know, patients in the hospital staff and everywhere. They’re like, you
had to parachute in that thing. Because I think everyone, I think everyone’s under the
assumption that, helicopters. Like, if the engine quits or something, like you can’t eject.
Derrick: Everyone knows that you like, you know, like fighter planes and stuff like that, that you
can eject or you can jump out of a plane with the parachute and everything. Be fine. Well, you
can’t necessarily jump out of a helicopter, with a parachute. I mean, you could probably, but you
don’t. Then can’t eject because there’s this huge fan blade above you that will dissect you as
soon as you go through it.
Derrick: That’s better, but, planes, you know, when they have engine fail, typically they have
another engine that can get them where they’re going or whatever. They can make an
emergency landing, whatever. And people, a lot of people think that when the engine dies in a
helicopter, that’s it. Yeah.
Derrick: You’re going to fall out of the sky, and you’re done. That’s not the case. You know, as a
pilot for a single engine plane, if my engine quits, the plane can glide for quite a long distance
until you find a field or something to land into and everything’s cool. Helicopters. Pretty much
the same way.
Derrick: They do what’s called an auto rotation. And pretty much what that means is, if the
engine completely loses power, you can still use the flight controls, and the transmission is still
engaged to where they can still create lift with the rotor blades. So, you will be falling at a, good
rate towards the ground.
Juddson:
But then once they get closer to the ground, they can still use their flight controls to slow all the
way down and make a normal landing.
Derrick: If they have the area to do so.
Juddson: I did not know that. Yes. That’s cool. So, they do have time to look around. And it all
depends on altitude. Altitude is time. In aviation, if you’re close to the ground and you have an
engine go out, you probably only have a few seconds to figure out what you’re going to do.
Derrick: But we typically fly, you know, a couple thousand feet off the ground. Gives us a, you
know, we still have about, you know, a minute or so to figure out what we’re doing, even if even
if we have an engine out, all of us in the back, we’re helping the pilot, looking out, seeing what
we can see as far as places to land.
Derrick: And, you have a minute or so before you plummet to the ground. Yeah. Well, that’s and
that’s what everyone thinks. But they can control their airspeed. That’s cool. You are pretty
good. And a lot of people don’t know that. So, there are, you know, safety measures in place for
helicopters that a lot of people don’t know about.
Juddson: That’s all-muscle memory. It’s good to know. Yep. Okay. So last two topics before we
we finish this thing. Number one, are you ever planning on being able to fly a helicopter? As a
part of what you do know? And again, that kind of goes back to what I said, you have to have at
least 2000 hours, as a, I think a helicopter pilot, I, I’m sure there’s a way to transition some
airplane hours over to a helicopter, just like you can do a helicopter over the airplane.
Derrick: But you must have 2000 hours in a specific kind of helicopter to be giving be considered
for medical helicopter operations. You know, and helicopters renting a helicopter for an hour of
trainings like 250 bucks an hour, maybe. And that’s probably on the cheap end. And that’s not
counting what you pay and stuff. Yeah. And that’s just that’s just not feasible for me.
Derrick: I should have started that a long time ago if I was going to do that. It’s so yeah, that’s
not going to be feasible. But and again, I’m okay with that. I’m perfectly fine with with where
I’m at with the fixed wing stuff, so. Okay, so last question, and you, you may or may not want to
keep this in.
Juddson: We’ll see. What did you used to do in your free time when you were working in the
ambulance?
Derrick: DJ, yes I was a DJ.
Juddson: What was your what was your DJ name?
Derrick: DJ SVT, get your heart going, man.
Juddson: So, I used to listen to Derek’s little mixes, sometimes whenever he was my preceptor.
You made this one that just stuck with me forever. It’s Faded. Yeah, it’s the one that stuck with
me. And that’s like when you were serious about creating your own stuff. Yep. And so it was, it
always stuck with me. And I have never let it go that Derek is also DJ SVT, well WAS, let’s say.
Derrick: I’m retired from being a DJ very short-lived career. I had to find something to do being
on that truck for every hour of my life. Oh, I know three years. It can be torture. If you don’t
have a hobby, you’re going to hate that job. Well, so, I do appreciate you coming and hanging
out with us and talking to me about your life and what’s brought you to where you are and what
it’s like to be on a helicopter.
Juddson: There are a thousand other things we could talk about, so we may have to do another
episode where we come back and talk about the logistics of how to become a flight medic, what
the difference is, how you manage your patients differently, that kind of thing.
Juddson: Because that’s all interesting as well. Part two for sure. As always, Texas EMS school
sponsors EMTalk. And so, I want to give a shout out to them if you’re ever considering wanting
to get into EMS or wanting to advance your EMS career, please look us up at
texasemsschool.com.
Juddson: We’d love to help you get started or help you keep moving forward. So, I’m Judd, and
this is Derek, and this is the talk it been with you? Yes, sir.
Juddson: This is EMTalk. EMTalk is sponsored by Texas EMS School. Join Juddson Smith again
next time because the life he’s saving could be yours.