Posts Tagged medevac helicopter crashes

Rockford Medical Flight Crashes near Rochelle – update

Dec 18

Posted by Admin in Fire Service News | 1 Comment

A public memorial for three medical flight-crew members who died in a helicopter crash Monday is scheduled for next week.

The service will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Rock Valley College Physical Education Center, 3301 N. Mulford Road.

Rockford Health System officials are expecting a large crowd, which is why they sought out a large venue. The health system ran the REACT helicopter program for 25 years.

Pilot Andy Olesen and flight nurses Jim Dillow and Karen Hollis died when their helicopter crashed in rural Lee County. The chopper was flying to pick up a critically ill patient at Mendota Community Hospital when the crew encountered bad weather and planned on turning back toward Rockford.

For the memorial service, health system officials have asked all emergency vehicles to arrive by 8 a.m. and participants in uniform to arrive between 8:30 and 9 a.m.

Officials, the public and any participants not in uniform are asked to arrive by 9 a.m.

The service is expected to last about an hour, ending with an fly-over by several aircraft.

Previous posts about the incident are HERE and HERE.

Tags: medevac helicopter crashes, memorial service for medical flight crew, React helicopter, React helicopter crashes

Rockford Medical Flight Crashes near Rochelle – update

Dec 14

Posted by Admin in Fire Service News | Comments off

REACT Crew Will “Complete Their Mission”

on Friday, December 14

In a tradition found within the fire and rescue community, the bodies of the REACT helicopter crew members who lost their lives on December 10, 2012, will return to the hangar to complete their mission on Friday morning, December 14.

Members of the regional community of fire, police and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel will escort the bodies of Flight Nurse Jim Dillow; Flight Nurse Karen Hollis; and Pilot Andy Olesen. The procession will depart from the Ogle County Sheriff’s office in Oregon at 10 a.m. and will complete the mission at the REACT hangar located on the western edge of the Rockford Memorial Hospital campus at 2400 North Rockton Ave. at about 10:45. Following a moment of recognition at the hangar, the procession will then depart for individual funeral homes.

Members of the public and the media are invited to line the route of the processional and/or be present at the hangar when the processional arrives. Those who choose to await the processional at the hangar should arrive between 10:15 and 10:30.

The Route

Departing Oregon, Ill. from the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office at about 10 a.m.

Turn right on Washington Street
Take the 3^rd left on to North River Road
Continue straight on to IL-72 E
Turn left on to North Kishwaukee Road
Turn left on to Kishwaukee Road
Continue on to Airport Drive
Turn left on to Beltline Road
Slight right on to IL-2 North/South Main Street
Turn left on to South Springfield Ave.
Turn right on to Auburn Street
Turn left on to Kilburn Ave.

Turn right on to Glenwood Ave. and arrive at the REACT hangar at about 10:45 a.m.

Tags: medevac helicopter crashes, React helicopter, React helicopter crashes, Rockford medical helicopter crashes, three killed in helicopter crash

Rockford Medical flight crashes near Rochelle – update

Dec 12

Posted by Admin in Fire Service News | 2 Comments

The Chicago Tribune has a lengthy follow-up article on the dangers/hazards of medical helicopter flights following Monday’s fatal crash:

About 400,000 patients are transported in the U.S. each year by emergency medical helicopters, a vital and expanding service that has seen more than 100 fatalities since 2003, including three deaths Monday in Illinois.

That accident record is unacceptable, the National Transportation Safety Board says.

The job of helicopter emergency medical crew member ranks as the highest-risk occupation based on death rates — more dangerous than deep-sea fisherman, logger and nine other hazardous jobs — according to a study a few years ago by Dr. Ira Blumen of the University of Chicago Hospitals.

The safety board has urged the Federal Aviation Administration in recent years to mandate safety improvements for the air ambulance industry in place of voluntary compliance, an FAA strategy that critics say has not been effective enough. Broad inconsistencies still exist in pilot training, the degree of safety-related communications and navigation equipment aboard helicopter medical fleets and flight standards employed by independent operators that are hired mostly by hospitals, investigations into numerous accidents have shown.

Read the entire article HERE.

thanks Chris

Tags: medevac helicopter crashes, React helicopter, React helicopter crashes, Rockford medical helicopter crashes

Rockford Medical flight crashes near Rochelle

Dec 11

Posted by Admin in Fire Service News | Comments off

The Chicago Tribune has an article about a REACT Helicopter crashing last night which killed the crew of three:

A witness says the medical helicopter that crashed in a field near Rochelle, killing the pilot and two nurses, flew close to his house before diving into the ground.

The helicopter was registered to Rockford Memorial Hospital and was enroute to pick up a patient at Mendota Community Hospital, officials said. The Rockford hospital identified the pilot as Andy Olesen and the two flight nurses as Jim Dillow and Karen Hollis.

Lee County Sheriff John Varga said it did not appear that the helicopter hit any power lines or other structures. “The phone calls and witnesses we got last night said something didn’t sound right, it was flying low,” he said.

The nurses and pilots who work in air ambulances are among the best trained in their fields, said Stephen Richey, a former flight respiratory therapist who lives in Indianapolis.

Pilots must be able to land on improvised landing sites on short notice, and the flight nurses on board often must deliver advance medical care to critically injured trauma patients.

The work draws those with years of experience and a deep commitment to helping patients, Richey said.

“You’ll never find a more dedicated group of professionals in your entire life,” Richey said.

The entire article can be found HERE.

Additional articles are HERE, HERE, and HERE.

From the Rockford Register Star:

COMPTON — The pilot killed in a Rockford Memorial Hospital REACT helicopter crash Monday was a week from retirement and one of the nurses killed was a mother of two children.

All three personnel on board — pilot Andy Olesen and flight nurses Jim Dillow and Karen Hollis — were killed when a Rockford helicopter crashed en route to Mendota Community Hospital to pick up a patient about 8:30 p.m. in a field near Compton in Lee County south of U.S. 30 and west of Illinois 251.

No patients are believed to have been on board the craft when it crashed.

Andy Olesen, 65, was planning to retire next week, said Ralph Kuespert, pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Rockford, where Olesen and his wife, Pat, have been members for years.

Hollis and her husband, Scott, are parents of two children — Samantha, 12, who attends Spectrum, and Sydney, 14, who attended Spectrum for nine years but now attends Boylan Catholic High School.

Karen Hollis had a vibrant personality that spilled over into the simplest tasks, said Christine Klekamp, executive director of Spectrum Progressive School, Rockford.

thanks Chris and Dan