REEVES COUNTY, Texas — West Texas is far and wide. We have a lot of cities that are far apart which makes it difficult to get the proper medical care in every situation.
That is where helicopters come in.
"Every minute is valuable and a lot of times going by air is the most efficient, we shave more than twice the time off of what it takes of the ground to get that patient to appropriate care," said Joseph Morgan with AeroCare.
Which is why first responders in Reeves County took the time Wednesday to train how to take care of patients that need the flight of life.
"It's very important for police, sheriff's office, fire and EMS to be able to land a helicopter in a trauma or a cardiac patient to the level of care they need," said Jerry Bullard, Emergency Management Coordinator for Reeves County.
Smaller towns like Pecos, Alpine, Balmorhea and more rely on these flights for medical care.
"Unfortunately as they do have a great facility here, there's just some things they can't take care of, strokes being one, heart attacks, serious traumas, and our team works very well with the hospital and team in Reeves County, Pecos to get those patients to the best type of care," said Morgan.
In Wednesday's training, first responders learned when to call a helicopter, where one can land, what to do what it arrives and more.
"Work around that helicopter once they arrive on scene to make sure we are as efficient as possible to make sure that patient on our aircraft is going to the best hospital available to make sure they're taken care of," said Morgan.
These helicopters serve all of West Texas.
"So we have 11 aircrafts between Texas and Eastern New Mexico." said Morgan.
Over 200 flights have taken off from Reeves County this year alone.