The western side of Maine Medical Center in Portland looks out over the expanse of the city. Depending on the season and the room assignment, a patient with a window seat can watch the Sea Dogs in action on Hadlock Field below.
The western side of the hospital also oversees the hospital’s heliport, where the helicopters land. It’s on top of the MMC’s new parking garage. A special elevator directly connects the landing area to the hospital’s emergency room below.
A night landing is impressive displays of lights and motion, like a three-dimensional patrol car on steroids. While the pilot maneuvers into position, on the ground, a team of technicians and medical personnel scurry around preparing for the passenger to disembark.
Now if you absolutely have to go to the hospital, flying in by helicopter is undeniably the way to go. For those in the know, however, it’s also the saddest.
Nobody whistles up LifeFlight just for the thrill of the ride.
Usually someone is loaded into a helicopter because death is at hand and time is of the essence. If they can’t treat you at Miles, it’s a bad situation. If they can’t treat you there and you can’t take the time to ride over the road, it’s seriously bad.
We are thinking of helicopters and life saving treatments because we had the opportunity to watch a couple come in for a landing at Maine Med this week. Through a window, it’s like a silent scene from an action movie.
The people coming off those helicopters are likely in for weeks, months, maybe even years of recovery. We have been at the scenes they have left behind and have reported those stories.
The exciting stuff is the news; that’s what people talk about, the fires, the crashes and such, but recovery, the longer, slower, less-dramatic stuff, that’s more important; that’s real life happening in real time.
