Families, emergency teams mourn copter crash victims
As members of the emergency response community gathered Friday in Aurora to mourn four people who lost their lives in last week's helicopter crash, the youngest victim's family thanked members of Air Angels.
Kirstin Blockinger, 14 months, was en route to Children's Memorial Hospital from Sandwich when the Air Angels helicopter carrying the girl, and the medical crew treating her, crashed near Eola Road. All onboard died.
The family's compassion touched a grieving community, especially those who take responsibility for the lives of the patients they transport.
"This is our job, it bothers us just as much to lose a patient as it does to lose co-workers," Air Angels flight medic Sue Lencioni said following the service at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church.
During the service, Kirstin's grandmother read a poem she had written and both the girl's parents spoke, thanking the medical crews in attendance for their care of the youngster from Leland who was born two months premature.
Glenn Blockinger, Kirstin's grandfather, said he was especially moved at the service by the obvious dedication to all four of the victims - "especially the three crew members in the helicopter and what they did to serve people."
Firefighters, paramedics and members of other air medical transport crews filled the church during the service that lasted more than an hour.
A bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" at the end of the memorial as seven rows of rescue workers formed a tunnel for attendees to walk through as they left.
Afterward, an extended line of fire trucks, ambulances and rescue vehicles drove from the church past the crash site on Eola Road before heading to a gathering with victims' families.
The National Transportation Safety board still has not determined what caused the crash that killed Kirstin; pilot Del Waugh, 69, of Carmel, Ind.; nurse William Mann, 31, of Chicago; and paramedic Ron Battiato, 41, of Peotone.
The helicopter appeared to clip a support wire attached to a radio tower near the crash site, but videos and photos confirmed this week that safety lights on the tower were working until the accident.