Tim Beard’s alarm blares to life, cutting through the silence of the small room and rousing the Life Flight nurse from a shallow sleep. Beard, 46, has just 10 minutes—eight minutes during daylight hours—to jump out of bed, pull on his flame-retardant jumpsuit, and climb into a fully equipped medical helicopter. The pilot checks the weather and begins his pre-flight check prior to departure. Equipped with what he calls his “everything bag” filled with medical supplies, Beard takes off into the sky, prepared to transport some of the most critical patients in our region.

Although many may find his work as a Life Flight nurse stressful, Beard looks forward to coming to work each day.

“It’s my best day when I fly. I love to take care of people,” Beard said. “But I know that when I see you on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance, I know it’s your worst day. I want to make that day a little bit better.”

The registered nurse and adjunct North Idaho College clinical instructor was determined to become a Life Flight nurse from an early age.

“The entire reason I went to nursing school was to become a Life Flight nurse. It’s been my passion and dream, probably for my entire life,” Beard said.

During his childhood, his friend’s mother worked at a facility in Pocatello that housed a medical helicopter. Beard remembered receiving his first Life Flight hat when he was just 14.

“I would just stare at that helicopter like, ‘man, I’ve got to do that,’” he said.

After setting his sights on a career with the Life Flight Network, Beard earned his nursing degree from the College of Southern Idaho in 1999. He eventually went on to receive his Master of Nursing degree at the University of Wyoming.

Life Flight requires its nurses to have at least five years of critical care experience. To gain the skills required to treat some of the sickest patients, Beard nursed at Shriners Hospital for Children and worked as a float nurse at Kootenai Health, traveling between the Intensive Care Unit and the Emergency Department. Beard said he received the experience needed to excel with Life Flight, and he enjoyed the spontaneity of float nursing.

After receiving valuable experience in critical care, Beard joined Life Flight Network in 2014. This nonprofit air medical transport service offers ICU-level care throughout Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Montana. Their fleet includes helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and ambulances. According to Beard, each transport unit has its own special “vibe.”

“The [plane] is bigger, so it has more of an ICU feel to it. The helicopter seems like an ambulance.”

As the Leonardo “Koala” helicopter cuts through the air at 175 mph, Beard is accompanied by one skilled paramedic or a repository therapist and a highly experienced pilot. The helicopter is fully loaded with a ventilator, cardiac monitor, I.V. pump, airway bag, and a variety of medical supplies that are crucial to keeping a critical patient alive.

“I’ve done a lot of crazy stuff right here,” he said. “This is my little office.”

Once Beard arrives at the scene, he and one paramedic assess the patient and their surroundings. He explained that Life Flight nurses must have the right mindset and attitude to thrive in a stressful work environment.

“You have to be able to perform under pressure. Be composed under pressure. You kind of have to be that type ‘A’ personality that can walk into a mess and take control. It takes a different personality,” he said. “You’ve got to be quick, and think, and move. How many people can be dead asleep and wake up and within 10 minutes be in the air?”

If they pick up a child in critical condition, Beard said, the crew almost always provides the child’s parent with a seat in the aircraft, if possible. He gives the child a headset to wear to communicate to the parent throughout the flight. As they rise into the air in route to a hospital, Beard explains that he will provide updates as much as possible.

Once the aircraft is airborne, Beard and a paramedic or respiratory therapist work together to care for the critically ill patient using cutting-edge equipment and their medical expertise. He explained that they rely on each other to treat and monitor the patient throughout the flight.

At such close quarters, Beard’s partners notice some of his subtle caring techniques.

“Talk to any of my partners, I am very well known for holding a hand in flight. I will hold that patient’s hand and just comfort them. Touch makes a difference. That human interaction,” he said. “I get a lot of satisfaction by comforting people.”

When landing at an airport or going through restricted airspace, Life Flight is given priority over private and commercial aircraft. Regardless of whether he lands at an airport or hospital, Beard stays with the patient until they are connected to a receiving hospital or another Life Flight crew.

Although Beard finds joy in many aspects of his career, the nurse and father of two described the challenges that come with losing a patient.

“You struggle with afterwards, and you and you partner go back and say, ‘OK, is there anything we could’ve done differently?’ We transport people that are on the brink of death, and sometimes there’s just nothing you can do. You have to be able to deal with that.”

Despite the hardships in nursing, there are satisfying rewards, Beard said.

“The thing that is most rewarding about this job is making a difference, the times when you are 100 percent convinced that what we did saved that person’s life.”