Justin Butts, a Warsaw Community High School alum, with the Lutheran Air II N913lH helicopter. (Photo Provided)

By DANI BARKEY
Chief Accountability Officer, Warsaw Community Schools

Emergency Medical Technician students at the Warsaw Area Career Center will have the opportunity to see a Lutheran Air helicopter make a non-emergency landing, weather permitting, on Friday, May 22 at Warsaw Community High School.

The Flight Paramedic on board is a 2003 Warsaw High School graduate, Justin Butts. Justin is a full-time flight crew member on Helicopter N913LH, also known as Lutheran Air II, based out of Wabash, Indiana and he is scheduled to speak to the EMT students.

Justin was a member of the National Honor Society, recipient of the Academic Honors Diploma, and received his first EMT-Basic training and certification through the Warsaw Area Career Center. Justin always had an interest in the pre-hospital emergency medical field and having the availability of the EMT class at WACC provided him with an ability to explore that field. He recalls his first ride-along on the ambulance, his first calls, and his first time really feeling like he found his dream job.

Following graduation, Justin spent time working and volunteering at Multi-Township EMS. Justin entered into Paramedic training at IVY Tech Northeast in January 2004 and graduated in the spring of 2006. Following his graduation and passing of all state exams, he became a full-time Paramedic in the employ of MTEMS for the next seven years.

In 2013, Justin was given the opportunity to combine two of his favorite things, aviation and emergency medicine. Helicopter EMS jobs have tough competition and people from all over the state were applying for a total of four full time flight positions. For Justin, getting that phone call was a dream come true. Justin states, “I am fortunate for the training that I have had over the years, and it has all been integral in each step that I needed to make it into a flight program, and it all began at WCHS/WACC.”