Shelby Cox | Johnson Publications
Members of Palisade Fire and Rescue, Wauneta EMS and Wauneta Volunteer Fire Department took part in a special training Saturday hosted by a crew from Great Plains LifeNet Air Ambulance. Here, pilot Neil Barnett (in cap facing crowd) and Josh Burke (facing crowd at left of helicopter door) address the crowd shortly after landing on the football field at Krotter Park in Palisade.
Great Plains LifeNet hosts land zoning class for Palisade, Wauneta emergency responders
Emergency responders in Palisade and Wauneta and a Hitchcock County Sheriff’s Deputy took part in a special training Saturday, April 29, hosted by a Great Plains LifeNet Air Ambulance crew. The land zoning training was led by Josh Burke of Imperial, a flight paramedic on the crew.
Four members of the LifeNet flight crew made the trip to Palisade for the training, including Burke, Mike Vargas, Kristin Johnson and pilot Neil Barnett.
Burke said members of the LifeNet crew are all familiar with rural areas and the challenges that the vast territories covered can bring to first responders who need to get a patient to a facility quickly.
“We like to be out there and do as much as we can,” Burke explained. “We are all from rural areas and we like to do what we can to help out.”
The land zoning training helps emergency responders know how to prepare for a helicopter landing. Burke said the company hosts trainings with local agencies each year.
“This training makes it safer for all—the patient, local first responders and the LifeNet crew,” said Burke.
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