Meet the Local Heroes of AirMed

by Jill Fennema

One hopes they never need to take a ride on a medical helicopter or airplane. These types of medical transportation usually occur in dire circumstances – an automobile accident, a premature birth in a remote area, or a farming accident all come to mind. 

But when the need arises, everyone is glad that the critical care ambulance services exist to get the patient where they need to be as quickly as possible. Sanford AirMed provides helicopter, fixed-wing airplane, and ground ambulance transports for emergency medical care and patient transport in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Eastern Montana. Interestingly, the Edgerton area has four current and former residents who work for AirMed. 

Koni DeKam, Mindy (Mulder) Hill, and Cory Schmidt all work as flight nurses for Sanford AirMed and Jeremy Landhuis as flight paramedic. 

Koni has been with AirMed the longest. She is a certified Obstetrics/Maternal nurse and has been with Sanford for 28 years and AirMed for 17 years. Koni hails from Inwood, Iowa. She met her husband, Bryan, through college friends from Edgerton. She first worked as a medical secretary at Sanford Luverne, but always knew that OB was what she wanted to do. In 2005, she transferred to Sanford Sioux Falls. 

 AirMed haș 3 fixed-wing planes and one helicopter. Most people are very familiar with medical helicopters because they have seen them and may have watched a training for local EMT’s and ambulance volunteers. However, most medical flights are actually done in airplanes.