Medevac Question

[helicopper 1,050]

The below IA made me wonder about medevac operations in our area. So a few questions for those in the know...

Date:7/5/2009

Time: 1405hrs

Location: I-84 Between Exits 2 and 3

Frequency: 46.160; 153.860

Units Operating: Wallkill EMS/ Mobile Life Support/ New York State Police Troop F/ New Hampton Fire/ Slate Hill Fire/ 4 Medevac's including NJ NorthSTAR

Weather Conditions: Sunny/ Warm

Description Of Incident: Rollover MVA requiring 4 helicopters. At least (3) victims by ground, (4) by air.

Reporters: Truck4

Writer:v85

1430hrs- Stat Flight, North Star, Lifeguard-18 and Atlantic Air-1 all to WCMC.

--------------------

Doesn't STAT-Flight have three medevacs in our immediate area? (Westchester, Orange, Sullivan) Why call NorthStar if we have all these aircraft available locally?

Who is "Atlantic 1" and where do they operate from?

This is more of a philosophical question than an operational one but I'll throw it out here anyway. Does it make sense to take all four critical traumas (assuming that they're critical and that's why they're going by air) to the same hospital? Doesn't that just relocate the disaster from the highway to the hallway? I mean WMC may be very good but to handle four simultaneous traumas is a stretch for any hospital. It also required that some of the medevacs fly back from whence they came empty. Could have cut a flight leg out by flying back to "home base", no?

This is not a bash or a dig or anything other than an inquiry!!! I'm sure that everyone on the scene did everything perfectly and waist straps were fastened and reflective vests were worn!

[JetPhoto 626]

I think Life Net Air 2 was tied up or out of service, did not hear them at all. Life Net Air 3 was doing several jobs today that I heard.

Atlantic Air 1 is a hospital based private medevac from Northern NJ

North Star is a stse police unit from NJ

Sounded like they may have been from the same family.

Edited July 6, 2009 by JetPhoto

[v85 212]

JetPhoto:

I did not get your PM until now. I don't know who added that information in, I will go back in and credit you though.

As far as the question about why all four traumas went to the same hospital, I was talking about that very issue with some people I know today, and we couldn't really come up with a good reason for why that is. It's not like WMC is the only level one trauma center around; both Hackensack and Morristown are in the area and may even be slightly closer depending on the location of the incident.

Edited July 6, 2009 by v85

[NWFDMedic 58]

Regional Medevac handles which ships are assigned to a call. They have maps of the areas, weather maps, etc. and they can determine which ships are most appropriate. Given certain wind conditions, I would venture to guess that a ship on the ground at the Medical Center might actually have a longer flight time.

Atlantic Air 1 is a medevac located somewhere around Parsippany, NJ. According to their flight map, they can be between exits 2 and 3 on I-84 in 12-15 minutes of flight time (which I think is a bit of a stretch, but still it's not too awful far). Northstar is located in Somerset, NJ and is approximately 55 miles by air to the call, which could be accomplished in maybe 20 minutes of flight time.

The other thing to consider is the fact that the LifeNet helicopters may not be where we expect them to be. They maintain system status just like any commercial ambulance service would. It's not at all unheard of that if both Albany area ships are out of service that they will float a Hudson Valley area ship up to cover.

As far as taking all 4 patients to WMC, the patients all were in the same vehicle according to the Record, but that would only be a secondary consideration. I'm fairly certain the air crews coordinate with WMC to see if they can handle the volume.

[WMCer111 0]

JetPhoto:

I did not get your PM until now. I don't know who added that information in, I will go back in and credit you though.

As far as the question about why all four traumas went to the same hospital, I was talking about that very issue with some people I know today, and we couldn't really come up with a good reason for why that is. It's not like WMC is the only level one trauma center around; both Hackensack and Morristown are in the area and may even be slightly closer depending on the location of the incident.

...i looked at some articles about the accident...sounds like there were 3 kids involved....are Hackensack and Morristown Level 1 peds trauma centers....maybe that had something to do with the decision....

[ny10570 745]

How severe were the actual injuries? If some or all are going to a trauma center for mechanism rather than actual injuries 4 patients isn't such a drain on resources. Keeping 4 family members together then caries more weight.

[JetPhoto 626]

Another question would be if they all had seatbelts on, in a vehicle like that not all of the adults would typicly wear them (except front seat passengers)

[WAS967 97]

Looks like my post was lost in the oopsey.

It's not like WMC is the only level one trauma center around; both Hackensack and Morristown are in the area and may even be slightly closer depending on the location of the incident.

The ACS website lists Hackensack as a Level II Trauma center.

http://www.facs.org/trauma/verified.html

Hackensack University Medical Center Hackensack Level II Trauma Center 9/17/10

Edited July 10, 2009 by WAS967

[jps385 0]

Looks like my post was lost in the oopsey.

The ACS website lists Hackensack as a Level II Trauma center.

http://www.facs.org/trauma/verified.html

http://www.state.nj.us/health/ems/trama_centers.shtml

See the NJ DOH website above. Neither Morristown or hackensack are lvl 1 (neither is Jersey City which came as a surprise). Just a note when looking up trauma centers, most are not designated by FACs but by individual states (you'll notice according to FACs there are none in NY) so to get an accurate list you need to look at the state websites.

[v85 212]

According to the Hackensack Medical Center webpage, it says they are a "Regional Trauma Center". Does that mean the same thing as Level II, or is it a separate designation?

http://www.humed.com/trauma/what.shtml

I also found this interesting: According to the NJDOH website it says:

Level II trauma centers are also expected to provide definitive trauma care, regardless of the severity of injury

http://www.state.nj.us/health/ems/trama_centers.shtml

Is this the same as in NY?

Edited July 10, 2009 by v85

[NJMedic 96]

There are three Level I trauma centers in New Jersey. University Hospital in Newark, Robert Wood Johnson Univesity Hospital in New Brunswick, and Cooper Hospital in Camden.

There are 7 Level II trauma centers in New Jersey, Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, St Joseph's Medical Center in Paterson, Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City, Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown, Capital Health in Trenton, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, and Atlantic City Medical Center in Atlantic City.

All trauma centers in NJ are verified by the American College of Surgeons and designated by the State Department of Health as Trauma Centers. Being a "regional" trauma center is all PR. They are all regional in scope.

There are no Level III or IV trauma centers in NJ.

There are five providers of medevac based in New Jersey. Northstar, based at Somerset Airport in Bedminister (Somerset) and SouthStat based in Voorhes (Camden County). Both operations are NJ State Police based and fly the Sikorsky S-76. Both ships are flown VFR although they are IFR equipped with two pilots on board. Northstar and Southstar fly with an RN/EMT or paramedic and a paramedic. University Hospital in Newark provides the medical crew and Virtua Health Systems in Camden County provides SouthStar's medical crew.

Atlantic Air One is affliated with Atlantic Health Systems which is the system made up of Morristown Memorial Hospital and Overlook Hospital and is based in Newton. They fly one EC-135 using PHI as the vendor using one pilot. They also staff their ships with a RN/EMT or paramedic and a paramedic form Atlantic Health.

MONOC (Monmouth Ocean Hospital Systems, although they are in other counties other then Monmouth and Ocean Counties) also fly a EC-135 from PHI Helicopters and staff their ships in the same fashion as Atlantic Health. They are based at Robert J Miller Airpark in Toms River.

Atlantic City Medical Center in conjunction with Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia operator MidAtlantic MedEvac. They fly either a S-76 or more likely a BK117. Medvac 5 is based in Hammonton, NJ. For many years Hahnemann partnered with Lehigh Valley Hospital near Allentown and operated under the name University Medevac. That partnership ended last year and each hospital went their own way.

All scene flights are coordinated with REMCS, the Regional Emergency Medical Communications System at University Hospital in Newark. All scene requests are handled by REMCS and each program has their own first due area. Second due requests are usually given to the closest provider. All scene flights are handled on the trunked talk group estanlished ny the NJSP. Interfacilities transport are usually handled internally.

In addition the the five providers based in NJ the follwoing agencies are also licensed to operate (which means the can pick up anywhere in NJ, anyone can drop off) in NJ....

Sky FlightCare, based in Coatesville, PA

PennSTAR Flight, based in Philadelphia

STAT MedEvac, based in West Mifflin, PA

JeffSTAT/Air Methods, based in Philadelphia

Christiana Care/LifeNet based in Newark, DE

University MedEvac, Lehigh Valley Hospital, based in Allentown

The US Coast Guard and the NYPD will also fly patients in, especially for air sea rescue jobs. I'm not sure with LifeNet NY is not on the list anymore. All toll there are over 35 helicopters liscensed in operate in NJ. I've seen Fairfax Innova Air, Maryland State Police, Delaware State Police, Med Star from DC and LifeStar from Hartford all fly patients into NJ.

Now you know more then you ever wanted to know about medevac in NJ!

Edited July 10, 2009 by NJMedic