SNELLVILLE, Ga. — In trauma, every second counts when you're trying to save someone's life. The tragedy at Apalachee High School on September 4 was no exception.
On that morning, student Colt Gray is accused of killing four and wounding nine. The Air Evac Lifeteam No. 117 Snellville received a flight request that morning and responded. On Friday, the three were recognized as Piedmont Eastside's "First Friday Heroes" of November.
Hospital leaders said they were "immensely proud" of the quick decision-making that helped save a life.
The group recounted to 11Alive the moments they first got the call for help, but dispatch telling them to hold until the scene was more secure.
John "Trey" Phillips, a flight nurse and paramedic, suggested they fly as close to the high school as possible in the meantime. It turned out that decision was key.
"Moving us closer cut our flight time down to a couple of minutes by the time they actually said, "yeah, we need you," Phillips told 11Alive on Friday. "It made pretty much all the difference in the world."
They flew an unconscious student with gunshot wounds to Grady, placing a tourniquet on her leg, starting IVs, administering oxygen and giving her blood on the way. She's alive and recovering well today, they said.
"In this line of work, you have to kind of have a switch where you can shut your emotions off for a minute so you can do your job," Phillips described. "It's after the call that you have to deal with those emotions that you've had because we're all parents. I'm a grandparent. Kids are tough."
Flight nurse Lindsay Chapman is new to the job. She said that day is hard to talk about because she's a parent, too.
"Had I not been with these two (first responders), and had things not gone exactly the way they did, as far as timing, I don't think we would have had the outcome that we did," she said. "It's just difficult, but this kind of stuff shouldn't happen. It shouldn't happen in life, so it's hard."
Matt Dine, the pilot in command, is grateful for their teamwork.
"It was just a very surreal thing to be a part of," he explained. "After we landed, Lindsay and Trey went to do the job they had to do. I was just kind of blown away by the EMS and law enforcement response, and it just seemed like they just kept pouring in... it was really kind of, in a way, reassuring to see that kind of a response in such a such a terrible situation."