When a life's at risk, speed can save it.

"We have physicians that ride along with us and they just, their minds and heads are spinning saying whoa, why are we going so fast?" Life Link Paramedic Tom Towle said.

"Why? Because this is what we do, this is what we're here for is to get them to you in a trauma center."

Towle says in desperate situations, a helicopter team brings help quickly and moves patients even faster. Towle is part of the Life Link medical crew, a three person helicopter team that functions as both an ER and intensive care unit.

"The best I can tell people is that we're an ambulance without lights and wheels," he said.

But, this ambulance moves a bit more quickly than most, traveling at speeds up to 160 miles per hour.

"Where an ambulance has to follow a road, we can go point to point, the thing with a helicopter is, it's time essential we can get a patient to the critical care units a lot faster," Pilot Dale Rahn said.

Rahn says when a cardiac, neonatal or critically injured patient needs care, Life Link can arrive on scene and get back in the air quickly, often spending less than five minutes on site.

"They always say the golden hour, we can do that it a helicopter and that's the name of the game in the medical business," Rahn said.

Towle says the crew here in New Richmond averages about 50 flights a month, but in this line of work a typical day doesn't exist.

"It's a wonderful environment to work in, as well as a very stressful environment to work in," Towle said.

"You never know where you're going to be called to," Rahn said.

You can only be ready and wait.

With crews in St.Cloud, Hutchinson, Eden Prairie and New Richmond Life Link services our area 24 hours a day, seven days a week for emergency or non-emergency transfers.