Inside look at Lifestar helicopter service

For a quarter of a century, Lifestar helicopters have been soaring through the skies of East Tennessee. The program serves an estimated 2,400 patients each year.

A lot has changed at Lifestar over the last 25 years, but the goal has always been the same.

"The golden hour of trauma is what we're really here for. That's to get those patients who have suffered a traumatic injury in the field, into the operating room within an hour of the time of the injury," Program Director Jeff Gregory said.

Since Dr. Robert Lash started the program, they've grown from one helicopter to five. They're based in Morristown, Sevierville, Sweetwater, and Andersonville.

Responding to emergencies takes a team of specialists both in the air and on the ground. It all starts in the communication center.

"Our goal is to get the aircraft dispatched as quick as we can," dispatcher Phyllis Walker said.

She and other dispatchers relay critical information from 911 centers to their team.

"As a pilot, I need to decide if we can successfully complete that flight based on fuel requirements, weather requirements, aircraft limitations," pilot Kirk Knox said.

When a flight is set, the pilot is joined onboard by a paramedic and nurse.

"Our responsibility is to treat and stabilize critical patients," flight nurse Natascha Greene said.

They can perform the same procedures thousands of feet up as they can on land--everything from starting IVs to putting in chest tubes. Together the team in the sky and on the ground transport an average of 200 patients every month.

"Team is the key. We all have our specialties, but any one of us is not as effective as all of us," Knox said.

While the team is in the air en route to a call, the nurse and paramedic prepare the cabin to treat the patient, while the pilot talks to crews on the ground to find a clear landing zone.

"Probably the most hazardous item in a helicopter pilot's life is wires, towers, and antennas," Knox said.

Once the patient is onboard, the team goes to work.

"We can do pretty much anything you can do in the back of an ambulance or in a hospital," Greene said.

Lifestar's two Bell 430 helicopters have a top speed of 140 knots (160 miles per hour). Response times to remote areas are reduced from one or two hours by ground, to 20 or 25 minutes; helping them reach their goal of getting trauma patients from the field to the ER in less than an hour.

Officials at UT Medical Center say they're expecting a new Lifestar helicopter soon that will help them upgrade their fleet as it ages.