A bird? A plane? No, it?s CareFlite swooping in

When a CareFlite helicopter lands at the Health Science Center on Feb. 25, it’s not an emergency but an informal training session.

The chopper fly-in is an annual opportunity for students to get up close with airborne emergency transport.

Every day in the U.S., 1,370 patients fly to emergency care. To help prepare future health professionals who are training at UNTHSC, a medical students’ organization called the Emergency Medicine Interest Group arranges the chopper fly-in.

Weather permitting, the helicopter will touch down on the north lawn of the Medical Education and Training Building, 1000 Montgomery St., at noon on Wednesday, Feb. 25. (The event had been set for November 2014 but inclement weather postponed it.)

Everyone on campus is invited to this informal training event. Students from UNTHSC’s five schools are invited to gather on the lawn for a brief talk by CareFlite Medical Director Robert Simonson, DO, a 1982 graduate of the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Simonson and the flight crew will demonstrate their critical-care equipment, assist students in touring the helicopter’s interior and answer questions. The hour-long event furthers the development of interdisciplinary relationships among the various professionals who are essential to quality care in emergency medicine. This type of interdisciplinary work supports a key UNTHSC value, collaboration.