ROSEAU, Minn. — Patients in need of urgent care in northwestern Minnesota will no longer need to wait for a medical flight from Grand Forks or Bemidji to take them to a hospital.
An emergency medical service helicopter operated by Valley Med Flight now will fly from Roseau and respond to calls within a 150-mile radius.
The helicopter crew started operations Oct. 21, and flights have been going smoothly, said Ben Dorman, chief operations officer for Air Medical Resource Group, which oversees the Grand Forks-based Valley Med Flight.
"The time frames that the patients were waiting from the time (medical staff) knew they needed a higher level of care to the time they were getting to a higher level of care was probably about two hours," he said. "Now, it's going to be dropped down to under an hour."
Dorman credits Altru Health System for asking Valley MedFlight to look into expanding service in northwest Minnesota.
Without the helicopter, Valley Med Flights crews would be dispatched from Grand Forks. Another potential responding agency would be Sanford AirMed out of Bemidji.
In addition to significantly cutting down on the time a patient is waiting for care, the helicopter's existence also allows medical crews to land at the site of a medical call.
"We cover a very wide area at the emergency department here and our hospital," said Shannon Carlson, vice president of support services at LifeCare Medical Center. "By having Valley Med Flight located here, it does potentially increase our options as far as actually landing at a potential site that was very remote and getting that patient transported quicker than a car may be able to."
Examples of situations where taking a patient by helicopter may be necessary include car and farming accidents, strokes and cardiac events.
In the example of a car accident, Dorman said the crew could land the helicopter on the road if a landing zone is prepared.
The helicopter flies from a helipad based at LifeCare Medical Center or a hangar at Roseau Municipal Airport.
Onboard each flight are a pilot, critical care nurse and a paramedic. While on call, crew members are stationed in a crew house and can be in the air in less than 10 minutes after a call is received.
Community response to the installation of the helicopter service has been favorable, according to Carlson and Dorman.
A grand opening ceremony held for the helicopter service last month was well attended by community members.
"In a town of less than 3,000 people, we had 450 people come out to a grand opening, so that speaks a lot," Dorman said.
Carlson agreed, adding the flights conducted since the operations began have gone well.
"We've had very positive comments from the community as far as having it here, and it's been very much a win-win situation," he said.
- See more at: http://www.prairiebizmag.com
No comments:
Post a Comment