Jocelynne Lowe wheels her son, Maverik toward the helicopter that flew him to the hospital on Oct. 30, 2018

ROCHESTER — One of the area’s most storied survivors was on hand Saturday, Feb. 2, to help commemorate the anniversary of another example of life-saving technology.

Maverik Lowe, the Tippecanoe Valley student who survived the deadly Oct. 30, 2018 crash near Talma that took the lives of three of his bus mates while the children waited to board a school bus, attended the celebration marking the 20th anniversary of the helicopter that helped fly him to the hospital on that fateful day.

Parkview Health Flight Services hosted an event at the Fulton County Airport and most of the organization’s crew were on hand to greet visitors, as well as reunite with Maverik, who was smiling and eager to talk about his experience.

“We have four full-time medics, four full-time nurses and four full-time pilots,” said Carl Wireman, a certified flight paramedic with PHFS. “Wireman said most of the 12 crew members would be on-hand during the celebration.

“We fly the two largest helicopters that are non-military in the state of Indiana,” said Rich McNeil, another certified flight paramedic with the organization. “They’re also the two fastest,” McNeil continued. “Our cruise speed today was 220 miles per hour. So, we’re getting them from an accident scene to a trauma center in a matter of minutes.”

The organization’s two helicopters are based in Fort Wayne and Rochester.

The paramedics had a happy reunion with Maverik, who said he remembered taking the flight, a fact that didn’t surprise his father, Loren Lowe. According to the father, his son had the wherewithal to take note of the license plate number of the vehicle that hit him and his bus mates. “At the hospital, he kept saying ‘license plate, license plate,’” said Loren Lowe. “I told him not to worry about that because they got the person who did it. He’s a very smart kid.”

According to a Parkview press release, the Samaritan helicopter has transported more than 8,000 patients since going into service on Feb. 1, 1999.