Ca. Flight Medic Makes a Living on the Front Lines
Feb. 18--A smooth ride and a bird's-eye view of Merced.
Miniature homes and Castle Air Museum planes below, sun reflecting off Lake Yosemite, snow on the mountains in the distance. This is the view from Bryan Donnelly's office. Or one of them, at least.
Donnelly, 48, is a flight paramedic for Mediflight. He also is a fire division chief at the Merced City Fire Department. And he teaches state certified classes on safety and hazardous materials. "I don't do it all in one day, that's for sure," he laughed.
But he's a busy man, nonetheless.
In a tight space aboard an AS 350 B3 Eurocopter, the longtime Merced resident tends to critical wounds en route to various trauma centers within 1,000 square miles. Destinations are conditioned on the injuries; many critical Merced patients go to Modesto hospitals, brain injuries are sent to facilities with neurosurgery and amputations go to Ralph K. Davies Medical Center in San Francisco.
"Cardiac rehab, a burn unit -- it all depends on what they need," he said. "We are dealing with people who need to get somewhere fast."
The helicopter hosts supplies that paramedics on the ground might not have access to: extra medication, a chest tube, invasive lines.
The newest addition is Anvis-9 night-vision goggles, the same used in Iraq and Afghanistan. "At night before we could only see where the spotlight hits," said Balvir Taggar, Mediflight nurse. "Now we can see more trees, any obstacle. It's phenomenal."
Taggar has worked with Donnelly for 13 years at both Mediflight bases in Merced and Modesto. The three-person team on board includes a paramedic, pilot and a nurse. "It's like flying with a valuable medical encyclopedia," he said of his co-worker.
But Donnelly only does this job part time on weekends. On weekdays he can be found in the Merced City Fire Department, where he leads as the division chief. He started as a firefighter in 1983 and worked his way up.
In his spare time -- when he has any -- he teaches state classes from his medical and public service expertise for others to gain certification.
Public service appeals to him.
"Everyone has their reasons," he said. "I like helping people. It's kind of cliche, but it's true."
This ambition began back in college while Donnelly studied organizational management at the University of San Francisco, going on to receive his master's degree in leadership from St. Mary's College.
He's always been a multitasker.
While in college he worked in fisheries for the California Department of Fish and Game. Dealing with safety incidents -- such as hunters getting shot -- encouraged him to attend the emergency medical technician program at Merced College. From there his interest in medical and service fields grew, and he went on to become a paramedic and a firefighter.
Becoming a flight paramedic stemmed from his interest in being in the air. He took flight lessons in Merced and even owned a personal plane.
Although he's never flown the Mediflight helicopter, his flight experience helps him understand the perspective of the pilot. "It's fantastic," said pilot James Klatt. "You never know where you are going to end up throughout the day."
He is part of Donnelly's air team, and on Tuesday the two Mediflight workers demonstrated what they do in the sky.
"It's pretty hazy today," Klatt said as the medium-size, single-engine helicopter lifted straight up off the ground. The Merced Municipal Airport shrank below as the chopper headed toward Snelling.
The B3 is a high-performance, high-altitude helicopter that can go about 23,000 feet into the air -- much higher than a heavier, double-engine model.
It can carry one patient at a time. And if that patient wasn't otherwise occupied, he'd have the best view in the house. But the gurney stretches back so a paramedic like Donnelly can then lean over and treat his injuries.
However nice the scenery, this job certainly has its ups and downs, said fellow flight paramedic Bruce Blankers. "We go up, we go down -- calls get called off," he said. The flight crew is dispatched simultaneously with other emergency crews so it will be there quickly if needed. If not, the helicopter soon gets called down.
But the hardest part of the job is dealing with children, Blankers said: "But it's nice to be there for them."
Disturbing scenes can come with the territory, but everyone is so busy trying to make whatever is wrong right that you often don't have time to really think about it until later, Donnelly said: "You think about it. You're human."
And there are those calls that everyone remembers, "A kid who's the same age as your kid. Someone who looks like someone you know. ... You deal with it the best you can."
His wife and three children are used to his line of work, and don't appear nervous about it. Actually, he added, his wife used to get nervous in the pre-cell phone days when he'd be at a big earthquake or fire and she couldn't get hold of him. But she's also in the medical field, so she understands.
Meanwhile, Donnelly flies to such locations as the Sierra Nevada and Sacramento.
On Tuesday he and Klatt soared over a shrunken version of Highway 99 and the top of UC Merced, a light wind doing nothing to disturb their trip back to the airport.
"The helicopter takes bumps a lot better than an airplane does," Donnelly said. "The only thing that shuts us down is a bad fog."
And then they came in for a smooth landing.
Reporter Dhyana Levey can be reached at 209 385-2472 or dlevey@mercedsun-star.com
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