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State Police fly mother and newborn to safety

February 20th, 2020 by WCBC Radio

A Maryland State Police helicopter crew overcame challenging weather Wednesday to fly a mother and her premature newborn child to safety from a remote Garrett County location in the mountainous region of the State.

The infant, born approximately 10 weeks early, was delivered on the side of the road near Backbone Mountain by Garrett County Emergency Medical Services shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. At the time, the child’s mother was heading to the hospital nearly 40 miles away when she suffered complications and went into labor. An off-duty medical professional from UPMC Western Maryland Regional Medical Center came upon the woman and assisted with the delivery of the child. Tri-Towns Emergency Medical Services and Bloomington Volunteer Fire Company responded to tend to the mother and infant.

Due to the deteriorating medical condition of the child, Garrett County EMS and fire volunteers requested the assistance of the Maryland State Police Aviation Command for a medevac assistance flight.  The four-member crew of Trooper 5 launched from the Cumberland Section and arrived on scene within 15 minutes to assist.

The infant’s medical condition led to the MSPAC crew to make the decision to fly the infant and mother to J. W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia. As the crew departed the scene, complicated weather conditions and limited visibility led to the two pilots to plot an instrument flight plan using the advanced avionics of the Agency’s Agusta Westland AW-139 helicopter to Morgantown nearly 60 miles away. The crew was able to successfully transport the mother and infant to the medical facility for further treatment.

The Maryland State Police Aviation Command has served Maryland citizens since 1970, and operates a fleet of 10 helicopters from seven bases throughout Maryland on a 24-hour basis year round. Missions include medevac, law enforcement, search & rescue, homeland security, and disaster assessment.  The success of rescues performed by the Aviation Command depends a great deal on the cooperative efforts of local fire, rescue and EMS law enforcement agencies.

One Response to “State Police fly mother and newborn to safety”

  1. February 20, 2020 at 6:55 pm, Linmarie said:

    Please lift this mother and new born baby in prayer.

    Reply

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