Life Flight crew critical to saving children's lives


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SALT LAKE CITY — Primary Children's Hospital celebrated 90 years of giving the community hope Saturday.

The work doctors, nurses and the hospital staff do is truly remarkable. One team, the crew on the Life Flight helicopter, is the first from the hospital on-scene and have a big impact in a patient's outcome.

When the helicopter arrives, the pediatric team on-board has already been talking with doctors at the hospital who will treat the patient. Seconds count when dealing with trauma and emergency victims, and they waste no time getting started.

The crew on the chopper is keenly aware of just how much time can do for someone.

"I mean there have been times that there have been tears that have been shared in this helicopter," said Life Flight medic Andrea Hofheins.

But the tradeoff for those tears?

"The job is its own reward. We don't need a pat on the back or anything like that," said Life Flight Pilot Denny Patterson. "Nobody needs to thank me for what I do. I know that I'm doing good, I know that I'm saving lives."

Life Flight heads out on about 3,500 flights a year, with specialized medics on each flight, including an neonatal specialist.

KSL-5 TV will be broadcasting special programming celebrating the good Primary Children's Hospital has done in the community, as well as holding the annual fundraiser for the hospital, which is online this year.

To donate and for more information, go to the Giving Hope campaign page.

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Andrew Wittenberg

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