Talk will explore the 50-year history of ALERT

The 50-year history of the Flathead Valley's ALERT air ambulance is the subject of a presentation Monday, Oct. 20, in Kalispell.

Bob Sandman will tell how the local logging industry combined with the medical community to create a helicopter air-rescue service that could pluck patients out of Northwest Montana's remote areas and speed them to the hospital for treatment.

Named for the acronym "Advanced Life support and Emergency Rescue Team," ALERT was the second hospital-based helicopter rescue system in the country, and the first of its kind outside of a metropolitan area.

Not only does ALERT respond to accidents and medical emergencies in the mountains, remote communities, or isolated highway crashes, it also ferries critically ill patients to specialized facilities and carries medical providers to outreach clinics.

Sandman will not only talk about the air-ambulance's half-century of aerial search and rescue, he will also link ALERT to advances in health care and emergency services across the nation.

The former manager of State Lands in northwest Montana, Sandman has been on the ALERT advisory board for 20 years and is the current chair of the organization. 

The presentation is at the monthly meeting of the Northwest Montana Westerners, a local history group. It starts at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the museum, at 124 Second Ave. E. in Kalispell. Cost is $5 for the general public, with members and youths under 16 admitted free.