Honorees

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Year Honored
2008
Honoree
Ronnie Helton, Jr.
Agency
Eagle Air Med
Agency City
Blanding
Agency State
UT
Last Call
10/4/07
Cause of Death
Medical Aviation Accident
Biography
Ronnie had a passion for others; he cared about their life, and was never afraid to go the extra mile for a person. "He was my mentor as well as a great friend to me," stated John Holmes, with UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. Ronnie inspired me to go back to school, and he instilled in me my ability to become a nurse.<br /> <br /> Ronnie Helton, Jr., 25, of Southside Birmingham, Alabama was killed in the line of duty on October 4, 2007. He was part of a three-person medical team that departed from the Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility en route to Alamosa, Colorado for a patient transport. When the air ambulance did not arrive, a search began. The twisted wreckage was found in mountainous terrain just west of the Continental Divide, near Charley's Peak in Southern Colorado.<br /> <br /> Ronnie was employed as a flight nurse for Eagle Air Med, located in Chinle, Arizona. He was a 2004 graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham; he had worked at hospitals in Birmingham; Baltimore; Tampa, Florida, and the U.S. Virgin Islands before coming on board with Eagle Air Med.<br /> <br /> "He was happy with his job," Patty Smith, Helton's mother stated. "He loved helping people; Ronnie had this special gift of touching people's lives. He died doing something he loved."<br /> <br /> Honored 2008