Prince George site for TEAAM air medical base

They combine advanced critical care aeromedical skills, similar to an air ambulance, with the capability of long-line and hoist rescue out of their helicopters, as well as swift-water rescue, auto extrication, mountain rescue, and other aspects such as structural collapse and HAZMAT capabilities.

“We also have access to fixed-wing aircraft and 4×4 rescue ambulances so that we can provide advanced or critical-care medicine in the most remote places that BC Ambulance can’t reach,” explained TEAAM President Miles Randell.

TEAAM was launched in Squamish after Randell and Jordan Lawrence, TEAAM’s Vice President, responded to a friend who went into cardiac arrest in a remote place a number of years ago. Realizing the provision of advanced medical care in remote places is not occurring on a regular basis, it became their mission to bring that to British Columbia.

“We travelled all over the world – Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand – and learned how they do it in other places, and they’re actually 50 years ahead of us. The combination, or the marriage, of air medical care at a high level and rescue care doesn’t actually occur in BC at the level that they provide in Switzerland and New Zealand,” said Randell.

In seeing that they could bring that capability to people in remote settings set the ball in motion for both Randell and Lawrence in order to bring that level of care to British Columbians.

“We started in Squamish because that’s where we’re currently from. Myself, I was a kid in Prince George. I used to work ambulance up this way in Chetwynd, Fort St. John, Dawson Creek. And Jordan, he’s from New Hazelton, worked in Terrace, worked in Prince Rupert, so he knows the gaps in coverage up here, we know how vast the areas are, and how an accident can occur in an incredibly remote place and not get the medical care that is needed to provide the best chance of a positive outcome.”

When TEAAM built their long-range plan, which is a five-base plan, Randell states that Prince George was always their TEAAM 2 planned site because of their understanding in how much the service is needed in the North.

The group is now established and has been regularly running rescue missions from their Squamish TEAAM 1 base. Being able to establish a base out of Prince George would drastically expand their reach in order to better serve people in Northern British Columbia.

As soon as TEAAM 2 is set up, Randell says their response times would no doubt improve.

“If we were called right now to do a mission in Prince George, we would fly up from Squamish and it’s about a 2-hour flight by helicopter. That seems like a long time, but the time that is taken away off of the back-end of transporting someone to a major hospital is actually a major cost-saver. Originating out of Prince George, we can cut two hours of travel time from our TEAAM 1 base, but we can also go way further north.”

A great example of just how well TEAAM works is told with their first rescue. Randell says they were able to get to an injured person who was critically injured after falling. TEAAM 1 was able to get him to a major trauma centre in one-tenth of the traditional timeframe that it takes to get someone from point of injury to a trauma centre. That was critical in being able to get him to a neurosurgeon in a timely fashion without any further injury aggravation. The service by TEAAM 1 was credited in that individual being able to walk again, as well as the financial cost savings.

“We care more about the patient care side, that’s our biggest impact is seeing patients being able to walk again or survive an event that would have otherwise been fatal, but we also know there’s a financial aspect that we have to look at, and the cost savings of a program like ours is massive.”

On Tuesday, TEAAM held information sessions in Prince George, which drew some heavy appetite from residents and local medical professionals according to Randell.

“Now we’re going to start actively fundraising for the equipment and training that we need to establish the base here. Within 60 days of achieving our funding goal, then we’ll be operational here.”

TEAAM 2 Base Manager Jesse Flegel, a paramedic himself, says he is well aware of the need of this service.

“Through my full-time job, I deal with multiple people who talk about wishing that we had a service like this. It’s something that I’ve been pushing and spearheading for a long time. I hear it all of the time and I’ve involved heavily in the backcountry community, and I hear from multiple users of that area that they wish there was something. Here in the North, we are very very remote and we have access to some beautiful and amazing country. But if we’re hurt, then we’re left on our own and we’re left to our own egress methods. It’s all we have but it’s not the best.”

TEAAM 2 will be comprised of 50 medical professionals which will be a combination of paramedics, doctors, nurses, firefighters, and rescue professionals.

If you’d like to donate or get involved, you can visit their website.

by Ethan Ready

Prince George site for TEAAM air medical base

What's Trending