John Carrico ’23 MBA has over two decades of combined experience as both a 9-1-1 and flight paramedic. But after Helene, the skies were more crowded than usual. “There could have been as many as 50-55 helicopters in the air in the disaster area,” he says. “We’re not used to seeing other helicopters.”
Carrico is business development coordinator for the Mountain Area Medical Airlift (MAMA), a division of Mission Health that serves rural Western North Carolina. With the MBA, he says, “I was able to have a seat at the table with CEOs and presidents of hospitals. I help us partner with EMS agencies, rural fire departments, and hospital systems to ensure our helicopter is offering the best that we can to our partners.”
During the crisis last fall, he reported to Mission Hospital in Asheville for work as soon as he could. The whole staff did. “It was overwhelming, but we knew what to do to take care of people. That was at the forefront all the time, from the hospital administration down to the custodial service.”
Lack of phones and internet weren’t the only problems the team faced. “The hospital didn’t have running water at first. They were trucking in about 200,000 gallons of water every day.” Carrico was flying in the helicopter on a variety of missions.
“We started not only flying patients, but also resources to hospitals,” he says. “We were flying doctors to smaller hospitals so they could be ‘boots on the ground.’”
It came down to commitment, and it came down to community. “I’m intimately connected with all the EMS departments throughout Western Carolina, and knowing the impact that had happened, I needed to be helping them.”