Angel Air Care Receives Life Saving Grant - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

A call comes in every two to three days for Angel Air Care in central and western North Dakota.

A grant today will help the rapid response program save more lives.

This new heart monitor transmits critical information from the helicopter to area hospitals.

The monitor will be used on every patient whether it involves trauma from an accident or health issues like heart attacks.

Chief Flight Nurse Marcy Dawson says time saved by transmitting data from the air will help save lives.

"Instead of just finding out when the patient arrives at the hospital, they can find out maybe a half-hour, forty-five minutes ahead of time and will be able to access and get their cardiologist there and have the cath lab already to go by the time the patient arrives at the doorstep," says Chief Flight Nurse Marcy Dawson.

Agribank--partnering with Farm Credit Services of Mandan and Minot provided over 26-thousand dollars to help purchase the heart monitor.

Mike O'Keeffe says the goal is to help oil impacted areas.

We feel really fortunate to be able to provide these grant dollars to projects throughout western North Dakota that help with the communities that are impacted because of the development of oil and mineral and the infrastructure needs of these communities are really being tested and demanded on infrastructure needs and this is a way to give back to those communities," says Mike O'Keeffe of Farm Credit Services of Mandan.

Angel Air Care began about two years ago and is operated by Executive Air in Bismarck.

The team responded to around 100 incidents last year.

The crew of 29 will train on the new heart monitor this week--and put it to use in the field soon after.

Another helicopter flies out of Trinity Hospital in Minot serving the northwestern North Dakota.