By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
With the annual Alaska Day celebration coming up with the theme of ‘Frontier First Responders,’ the Sitka Chamber of Commerce heard a presentation by Guardian Flight, a nationwide air evacuation service that provides service to Sitka and across Southeast Alaska.
Jessica Hyatt, Guardian Flight’s Business Development Specialist for Southeast, emphasized “safe, compassionate, and efficient air medical transport” as a goal of the company. With bases in Sitka, Ketchikan, and Juneau, Hyatt said, Guardian teams try to “make sure that we ingrain ourselves into the community.”
One of Guardian Flight’s paramedics, Shane Taylor, went into details about the type of care that professional caregivers provide to patients while they’re on the plane. He described Guardian’s aircraft as “critical care ambulance(s)” which are equipped to handle most sorts of medical emergencies.
Taylor added that “if you’ve got an emergency room or an ICU in Southeast Alaska, I likely have (the equipment) for it on our aircraft.”
Shane Taylor (Sentinel Photo)
He went on to say that Guardian “can take somebody on full life support, or … somebody that is just one of our elders who isn’t able to sit upright in an aircraft.”
With aircraft capable of reaching Anchorage or Seattle without refueling, Taylor emphasized the service’s rapid and efficient response capabilities.
At the end of the presentation, an audience member offered their condolences to the Guardian team, which recently lost friends and colleagues in a crash in Kake, January 29.
At its weekly meeting next Wednesday the Chamber will hear presentations by the Sitka Sound Science Center on Whalefest, Oct. 31 through Nov. 3.
