When rescuers on Monday night extracted Fort Collins snowmobiler Jordan Lundstedt from the backcountry where an avalanche killed his brother, he was loaded onto a waiting helicopter and flown to the burn unit at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.
Lundstedt suffered frostbite after spending two nights in the wilderness, and the treatment for frostbite is similar to that for burns.
The area where Lundstedt was found on the east side of Buffalo Pass west of Walden is a long drive from any medical facilities. So, rescuers decided the best solution was a quick helicopter ride to Greeley.
“That’s a classic example of what we do: rural scene to definitive care,” said Dr. Tim Hutchison, director of a new medevac helicopter program starting at Medical Center of the Rockies. “Helicopters can make a difference.”
Poudre Valley Health System, which owns MCR, is launching the medevac program in a few weeks, with plans to transport at least 300 patients annually. The MCR program joins Northern Colorado helicopters based in Greeley, Frederick-Firestone and Erie. There are 12 medevac helicopters working in Colorado, scattered from Denver to Durango to Summit County.
According to the FAA, there are about 850 medevac helicopters operating in the United States. Hutchison said Colorado has far fewer medevac helicopters for its population than surrounding states — while there are 12 in Colorado today, there are 54 in Arizona, 13 in New Mexico and six in Nebraska
Care by copter
First responders, police and firefighters can call in a helicopter whenever they are dealing with a serious injury far from a hospital, or when a patient needs specialized treatment such as the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital. That’s why Lundstedt, for instance, was flown past MCR and Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, destined for the NCMC burn unit.
Under the current system, rescuers who call for a helicopter are generally sent to the closest copter available, and the patient is generally flown to the closest appropriate facility, regardless of which hospital system sponsors the medevac crew. Hutchison ran Greeley’s medevac program for 21 years, and he said the North Colorado Med Evac crews often flew patients to MCR or PVH.
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