hold was likely the fire department (there's one in almost every
community) In a matter of seconds, before even the fire fighters
arrived, the dispatcher put the woman to work applying emer-
gency life-saving intervention, specifically cardiopulmonary re-
suscitatian (CPR). “There was a sequence of calls as the situa-
tion progressed. Other ambulances arrived simultaneously,” Peet
noted at the time, although there was not much unusual in that.
He calls the gathering of emergencv vehicles “a multi-tiered re-
sponse.”

O1, as Larry Jackson, an Executive Director of the Interior
Region of the British Columbia Ambulance Service (BCAS), puts
it, “Everybody, from first responders to ground and air ambulance
crews, hospitals nurses and doctors, know what they need to do
and when to do it. This call was a cast of dozens. Really, Howard
and his crew were one link in the chain of health-care delivery.”

There are some of us who would not have lived at all with-
out the JIBC’s world-leading standards of training in emergency
pre-hospital care on the ground or in air ambulances. Only in
the past twenty-odd vears has it become routine for critically ill
patients to be airlifted from B C.’s vast, underpopulated Interior
to the best emergency rooms on the Lower Mainland, being ac-
tively kept alive every mile of the way. Former B.C. Premier Mike
Harcourt credits, among others, the Air Ambulance Service for
his chance to live and rehabilitate his paralvzed back when he
had a near-fatal fall at his island home In 1995, as Premier, Har-
court had helped open the JIBC’s new building—totally unaware,
of course, that Academy-trained paramedics would be there for
him in his remote moment of peril

There are four dedicated air ambulance bases, in Richmond,
Kelowna and Prince George at their respective airports while the
Infant Transport Team CITT) is based out of B.C. Children’s Hospi-
tal in Vancouver. ITT paramedics handle all of the high-risk infant,
child and maternity transports in B.C. Unique in North America,
they are the first paramedic team to perform transports of these
critical patients.

Emily C.’s case was one of the first operational tests of
the new Autolaunch Protocol. The question to be answered was
whether Peet's helicopter could get Emily to hospital faster than
the ground ambulances There are plenty of 100-kph highwavs
in Surrey. The ALP is designed to find the best suited of the as-
sets that arrive on the scene when an emergency call comes in,
beginning with the caller. Emily's grandmother was first among
the first responders.

The first requirement for an ALP is for the patient to be lo-
cated in Southwest B.C., the Lower Mainland, the Fraser Valley or
the Victoria area. In cases like Emily's, this trial was designed to
minimize the time spent travelling from the scene of the injury to
the nearest emergency room. The guideline was that an air am-
bulance was justified when that trip was likely to take more than
twenty minutes on the ground. In those instances where daylight
was available and suitable landing sites identified, the helicopter
has an obvious advantage. One of the Twin Beech aircraft has an
even greater advantage for those fortunate enough to be admit-
tec to hospitals near runwavs. As for eligibility, Autolaunch is
available only for the most severe of life-threatening injuries.

On that early afternoon in July, Howard Peet and his crew
of Steve Morris and Brett Passi were obviously the fastest avail-
able to take Emily first to Peace Arch Memorial, the hospital clos-
est to home, and then to Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. Both
have helicopter pads.

A concentration of assets and professional know-how
around the Intensive Care Unit bed at the hospital were await-
ing Emily even as the chartered Sikorsky heli-ambulance was
en route. That, too, was part of the new way of saving lives—
including hers.

A month later, as a representative of the B.C. Air Ambu-
lance, Howard Peet staffed a booth at the 2006 Abbotsford In-
ternational Air Show He's always happy to promote the service
in public—“It’s the best career in the world.” Hearing someone
nearby ask whether Peet would like to meet Emilv there in per-
son, he didn't have to be asked twice. “Are you kidding?” was his

reply