Photo courtesy of TEAAM

By Ethan Ready

TEAAM taking shape

Interviews underway for TEAAM 2 Air Medical Base in PG

Sep 28, 2020 | 5:23 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – They’re still hopeful the funding will come, but they’re hoping to build up their TEAAM 2 roster in the meantime.

“We have a really deep pool of applicants. It’s been fantastic,” said Miles Randell, President of TEAAM Aeromedical. “Of note, of the applicants that we’ve had here, about 40 per cent are female applicants, which is more than double of what we see in the Lower Mainland for our TEAAM 1 base.”

Technical Evacuation Advanced Aero Medical Society, or TEAAM for short, is made up of paramedics and physicians dedicated to providing crucial life support and training in long-line helicopter rescues.

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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.

The group originally came to Prince George back in August to host information sessions and gauge the interest from medical professionals interesting in becoming members of a TEAAM 2 team based out of the north.

Randell says the applicants they’ve seen are strong and professional.

“I am a northern boy,” explained Jordan Lawrence, TEAAM Aeromedical’s Vice President. “Sometimes we don’t think that we have that quality of people in the north, it’s usually often the bigger centres having that quality. But very mistaken here. It was really nice to see that we had a range from amazing high-end doctors to critical care nurses, search and rescue, firefighters, that were all top of their game.”

Lawrence says the batch of applicants they’ve already seen will provide Prince George and the surrounding area amazing care. However, with that being said, they’re also still needing 25-30 more applicants in order to help groundout their program.

They’re also needing $350,000 in funding in order to secure the funding for the advanced medical equipment they need.

TEAAM 1 kicked off the non-profit down in Squamish, BC over two years ago after Randell and Lawrence, both long-time paramedics, 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.

“As soon as the funding comes, we can start the training. We hope to have the training done within 60 days of receiving that funding. That’s why it’s so important to get the funding for the infrastructure,” said Lawrence.

TEAAM has already met with Yellowhead Helicopters Ltd., which Randell says was promising and they’ve been strong supporters.

Currently, they’re actively seeking support from industry, community groups, and day-to-day donors.

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