[Scan-DC] UP Park Police incident

[Andrew Feinberg]

Often helicopters will be staffed by a medic and a flight nurse instead of
a medic and an emt, making for a higher standard of care. As for the
efficacy of air transport to save time, consider a level I trauma needs to
go to a level I trauma center, of which there are two in Montgomery and DC
(Wash. Hospital Center and MD Shock Trauma). It's not always feasible to
transport by ground to one because of distance, traffic, availability of
beds at one or the other, or all 3.

Just a thought,

Andrew
On Dec 21, 2011 4:41 PM, "Clegg, Andrew W." <aclegg at nsf.gov> wrote:

> Yes, I believe you are referring to the one that started when I
> questioned the wisdom of calling for a helicopter (on a Sunday morning)
> for the injured person in Arlington. I recall that someone tried to
> justify it by claiming that somehow the helicopters were equipped with
> personnel who were so much more skilled than regular EMTs that it would
> justify the additional 1/2 hour - 45 minute delay in getting the person
> to the hospital. I don't buy that argument, but I really can't explain
> the rationale for the helicopter myself, other than perhaps there's a
> lot of political pressure to justify the existence of these hugely
> expensive resources. I totally understand the rationale for using
> helicopters for injured people in rural and some suburban areas, but not
> here in the city, where you're a 5-15 minute ambulance ride from the
> hospital (except perhaps during rush hour).
>
> By the way, apparently the accident rate associated with medical
> helicopters is really high. A random Google search turned up this
> passage from a Popular Mechanics article:
>
> "As a result of flying ill-equipped into risky conditions, medical
> helicopters crash at twice the rate of other air taxis and are
> exponentially more dangerous than commercial airliners, according to a
> 2009 study by Ira Blumen, medical and program director of the University
> of Chicago Aeromedical Network."
> (http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/safety/medical-heli
> copter-safety-crashes).
>
> Between the time wasted in getting people to a hospital, and the very
> high accident rate, I really don't see the wisdom of using medical
> helicopters in a city.
>
> Andy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Blair Thompson
> Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 4:04 PM
> To: Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] UP Park Police incident
>
> There was a lengthy discussion about three or four years ago at Scan-DC
> about the wisdom of waiting for a helicopter vs. just taking the patient
> to a hospital in an ambulance. I can't find the thread right now.
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------
> From: "Clegg, Andrew W." <aclegg at nsf.gov>
> To: "Brooks, Kurt" <knbrooks at wusa9.com>, <jeff at krauss.ws>,
> <scan-dc at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] UP Park Police incident
> Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:02:48 -0500
>
> They're transporting to Georgetown, by ground.
>
> Based on past incidents, I'm surprised they didn't call in a medical
> helicopter, taking 45 minutes to fly in, locate a landing zone, land,
> transport to helicopter, load, depart, and fly 1000 ft to Georgetown.
> Makes about as much sense as when they took 45 minutes to pick up a
> patient in Arlington to fly to Georgetown. Could have taken them there
> on a bicycle in half that time.
>
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