CINCINNATI — From flying missions in Iraq to now being a lifeline for patients, a one-time Ohio National Guard soldier serves as a pilot for the medical helicopter Careflight.
“In the guard I flew Blackhawks and Hueys,” Robert Nickel said. “I had friends who flew air ambulances in the Guard so I started looking around.”
He eventually landed on the doorstep of Careflight Air Transportation piloting a Dauphin helicopter at upwards of 180 miles per hour to get patients the care they need.
“The pilot has the easy job getting from point A, to point B, to point C and that’s about it,” Nickel said. “ The pilots don’t do anything medical, so the real work and the real business end of what we do is with the two of them over there. They do the tough stuff.”
He’s referring to the two Flight Nurses who make up the rest of his team.
Benjamin Post was a medic in the Air Force. Skills that translated well into his new role. He says his military training helps in many ways in an environment that can sometimes be high-stress where you have to perform at a high level when minutes count.
“Our goal is ten minutes from wheels down to wheels up ten minutes,” Post explained describing when they go to trauma scenes.
He says he loves his job but there are days where the workload can be taxing.
“Five calls in a day is a lot,” Post said.
He said while the calls range from transports of patients from hospital to hospital, there are days when they have to land in the middle of a field and walk a fair distance to assess and collect the patient.
Careflight covers a 17-county region covering a 150 mile radius surrounding the Miami Valley Hospital.
“When it’s a Careflight I know they’re being well taken care of,” said Dr. Randy Marriott, medical director of Careflight Air and Mobile.
He says while the technology on Careflight is always improving with a desire to even add ultrasound capabilities in the future, it always comes down to the people on board.
“It really still goes back to a skilled clinician laying hands on a sick patient and having a feel for what those problems are and being able to rapidly identify them through what is essentially an old-fashioned clinical assessment,” Marriott said.
In 2022, Careflight became the first medical helicopter to carry blood on board to be able to provide transfusions.
As Careflight celebrates 40 years of service the number of veterans working within the medical field itself remains steady with 8.9% serving within the education and health services field, which is how the Bureau of Labor Statistics categorizes the data.
If you’re a veteran interested in changing careers or are currently unemployed you can check to see if you’re eligible for the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program.
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.
