Out of Uniform

AirLife, an emergency air and ground transport agency, is fully staffed with all types of medical and aviation professionls:  flight nurses (including specialty teams), EMTs, dispatchers, educators, mechanics and pilots (jet and helicopter).  Even most of our administrative staff have experience in any one or more of these professions and can take to the air as the need arises.  It is truly its own world of understood risks and protocols, one few are able to enter, let alone comprehend.

So how about a go-between?  How about a staff person who works ever so closely with these amazing people yet will ever be just on the cusp of their world, helping and assisting in one capacity but always realizing there is a thin yet distinct line separating that person from those people?  How about someone who will never wear a flight suit, but knows full well how to order one for the crew members who need them to do their job safely?  How about a person who may not be able to start an IV but can crunch numbers faster and better than a Wall Street accountant?  How about an individual who knows the ins, outs and mazes of insurance carriers and how best to assist our patients from ground level?

I bring you Out of Uniform – perspectives from those who will ever be grounded (other than our very occasional brief ride, courtesy of a small window of opportunity and a pilot’s enthusiasm to show us the world from up on high) yet always flying in spirit with our colleagues as they do what they do… We do what we do from behind a desk, tethered to a phone, and tied to each of them in our daily endeavors to bring people safely to medical treatment and health.  We may not wear the uniforms, but we carry the honor of working with this team each and every day.