BRIDGE CITY, Texas — Bridge City Independent School District nursing students got up an up close look at what it takes to respond to a emergency.
The Southeast Texas Air Rescue team visited the students Thursday.
An air rescue crew landed a helicopter at the high school to show students the tools it takes to save a life.
The air rescue team featured a pilot, paramedic and nurse who took the time to answer the students' questions and give them an inside look at how they transport patients and treat them while in the air.
This team plays crucial role in taking people to hospitals from Austin to New Orleans in a quick manner, which is why they chose to highlight what they do to area nursing students.
Flight nurse Kat Landor with Southeast Texas Air Rescue says nursing is a broad industry.
Often times, students don't realize there are work opportunities outside of the hospital, such as working as part of an emergency flight crew.
Landor says the air rescue helicopters serves the golden triangle, Houston, Lufkin and even into Cameron Parish, Louisiana.
Landor says working as a flight nurse takes a very special skill set.
"If this is something that you want to do get as much experience as you can in the nursing and world of paramedicine because when you get on here it's just you," she said. "It's you and your partner working together, trying to stand between the patient and the grave when they're circling."
Junior Haley Muñoz says after learning more about air rescue, she could see herself becoming a flight nurse.
"I wanted to be a NICU nurse but now that I see the experience out here and looking in the helicopter and everything makes me wanna do it and like change my path," she said.
Landor encourages these students to get a few years as a nurse under their belt before they become a flight nurse.
"When you get on here it's just you. It's you and your partner working together trying to stand between the patient and the grave when they're circling," she said
The helicopter can only fit one patient in the helicopter at a time and they can reach speeds of up to 160 miles per hour.