By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Getting bitten by a rattlesnake in the deep Arizona desert has always meant a desperate race to the nearest hospital. But waiting for an emergency room can often be too late.
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That’s why BannerAir, Banner Health’s air ambulance team, is changing the game by bringing a critical, lifesaving treatment out of the emergency room and straight into the sky.
By equipping their “flying ICU” helicopters with antivenom, BannerAir crews can administer the medication intravenously mid-air.
This allows them to begin reversing the effects of a toxic bite before the aircraft even leaves the ground, cutting treatment times for patients stranded in remote desert areas.
After all, in the deep desert, survival is a race against time.
“When you get bit by a snake, your tissue is going to start dying,” said Dustin Matsuoka, a flight nurse with BannerAir. “And then that can run systemically into the rest of your body and cause a myriad of other problems for your heart, lungs, liver and kidneys.”
Matsuoka has seen firsthand how quickly a snake’s venom can travel through the body. It’s why access to timely care is essential.
“Bringing the antivenom to the patient, getting them to the larger center, spares most patients a lengthy hospital stay,” Matsuoka said.
“It’s just another tool that we can just add to the box,” said BannerAir Flight Paramedic Paul Lewis. “It’s a better outcome for patients.”
BannerAir is the only air ambulance program in the country to carry the antivenom medication called Anavip onboard its aircraft.
“It’s a powder form, and then we’ll mix it with saline, so we have saline bags that we mix it with and give it in a drip to the patient,” Lewis explained.
An adult is typically administered all 10 vials and could need more.
The drug contains horse-derived antibodies that bind to and neutralize the toxins.
So far, the results speak for themselves.
“Our very first case, he was actually able to walk out of the hospital 24 hours later,” said Amanda Wigman, BannerAir senior business development manager. “So, we’re noticing a shorter stay and then also they don’t need a re-dose… They’re getting that initial dose of the Anavip and then they aren’t having to get multiple re-doses afterwards.”
BannerAir currently operates five bases across Arizona, meaning this high-flying antidote is within reach for hikers and rural residents statewide.
“The more that we can get this out into the community so they’re not driving that two hours to get to the closest hospital or closest free-standing ER, knowing that we can bring it to them, will be huge for the community and we can work on saving some more lives,” Wigman said.
BannerAir is a 24/7 hospital-based critical care air ambulance and medical transport program serving communities across Arizona. Launched by Banner Health in 2021, the program essentially operates as a fully equipped, flying intensive care unit (ICU) to rapidly transport critically ill or injured patients.
The service has also added blood transfusion products onboard its helicopters to provide better treatment for patients suffering from severe trauma.
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