GAINESVILLE - The roaring of rotor blades and dust flying at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville Monday afternoon, could usher in a new medevac plan for the Army's 5th Ranger Training Battalion.
The Army UH-60 Blackhawk made a short medevac training landing at the hospital, transferring a 'Rescue Randy' or fake patient into a waiting Medtransport vehicle. While the exercise was a chance for the Blackhawk crew to hone its skills in getting an injured Ranger to treatment, it was also a trial of sorts.
Mike Raderstorf, Director, Security and Emergency preparedness for Northeast Georgia Health System, said the battalion's switch to a Blackhawk, had it looking for an alternate site to fly any injured Rangers from Camp Merrill outside Dahlonega.
"Typically they used to go to Grady (Memorial Hospital) as a level one trauma center. Their helipad is a roof mounted helipad. Our helipad is a little bit too small for this air platform so we're doing basically a non-traditional alternate landing zone or LZ," Raderstorf said.
That LZ was the flat green space near Vine Street, just outside the hospital's north patient tower.
"This is a great thing for the hospital and the Rangers, because they do very realistic training," Raderstorf said.
The Gainesville Fire Department and other emergency responders were on hand as Raderstorf checked the grass for any debris and secured the LZ.
A crowd of hospital personnel and others gathered under the awning in front of the north tower, cell phones out, to capture some video.
Around 12:25 p.m., the dark olive drab Blackhawk slowly approached, did a turn over the hospital and descended over the parking deck and made a smooth landing in the grassy field.
It was just a matter of minutes for the Rangers to offload the mock patient into the waiting ambulance. Raderstorf had a few short words with one of the Rangers before they boarded the helicopter and took off.
"Military precision, you know, it went well," Raderstorf said after the chopper had lifted.
"The approach was great, it was the proper LZ for them. They liked the fact that ground transport was within 25 meters. From landing, to getting the patient onto ground transport was a matter of a minute, minute and a half. It went very well."
Raderstorf is no stranger to Blackhawks or the Army. Raderstorf was Ranger qualified in 1999, was an infantry officer for about 12 years. He transitioned to intelligence and served with special forces.
"It feels like home. I probably spent a thousand hours in that exact platform, flying around Iraq and the middle east, so to help out a soldier that's injured is very fulfilling, not just for our hospital, but for me personally."
Raderstorf said the Rangers liked the LZ and the short distance from Merrill. With the level two trauma designation at the NGMC Gainesville campus, Raderstorf said it will likely be a standing procedure moving forward, if any Rangers from Merrill need trauma care.
