Airlift Northwest | 7
establish a functional heart rhythm before
transporting the man to hospital. Two nurs-
es took turns maintaining CPR, each work-
ing in durations of two minutes, establishing
and airway and administering medications
and in one of the rarest and most remarkable
of medical feats, the man’s heart function
returned after 86 minutes of intense effort.
“That has become a story we talk about a lot,
involving a super nice kid who is doing well
today, but stories like that keep us mindful
of our mission ... we want to give people a
greater opportunity to have life, to experi-
ence life, and we’re thankful to work for a
service which provides that,” says Nelson.
TRANSITING FROM
TRAGEDY
Tragically, medical transports services like
Northwest Airlift weren’t so accessible in
the years prior to the company’s launch in
1982. That fact became too painfully clear
following a house fire which occurred in ru-
ral Alaska. At the time, a neurologist named
Dr. Michael Copass was conducting a train-
ing exercise in Alaska when he learned three
children had been severely burned in the fire.
The injuries demanded that these children
needed immediate transport to a facility
with the resources to provide critical treat-
ment, but unfortunately, such transport
