These pictures were taken over the last few weeks at various emergency scenes. One was from last Sunday.
Patients are now routinely flown out anytime there is serious trauma - everything from vehicle accidents, a fall from a high distance, a shooting, to a variety of other traumatic incidents.
UNC has based a fully staffed medical helicopter (Tarheel II) beside the Aberdeen Fire & Rescue Substation on NC Highway 211. When this crew is at the station, they can be just about anywhere in Moore County within minutes of getting airborne. When Tarheel II is not available, they automatically contact other nearby agencies to see who is closest and who has an aircraft available.
Severely injured patients who meet criteria for care at a trauma center have nearly double the odds of surviving if they are transported directly by medical helicopter to a Level I or Level II trauma center, compared to those first driven to a regular hospital and then flown to a trauma center, according to a new analysis led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC physician-scientists.
Sometimes, depending on the nature of the call, our skilled telecommunicators at the 911 Center will have already called and will have a medical helicopter on standby before any responder even reaches the scene.
In Moore County, it is often firefighters who are first to arrive on most severe scenes. They are trained to recognize when to call a helicopter even before the ambulance arrives. They often do this speeding up the response time of the aircraft rather than waiting on the Paramedics to get there to call.
All of our fire departments are also extensively trained not only on setting up a landing zone for a medical helicopter to land and take off, but also how to communicate with the helicopter by radio when they are inbound, and most importantly ground safety operations for when an aircraft is on the ground.
Firefighters routinely assist carrying and loading a patient for a "hot load" where the helicopter is turned on and all of the blades are turning. This is very hazardous and requires precise movements, which is why they all train for these scenarios in advance.
In the past couple of years, the use of helicopters responding and airlifting patients to trauma centers has increased dramatically with the availability of more of these life-saving aircraft.
It should also be noted that our Paramedics cancel helicopters that are already on their way on a regular basis. If the Paramedic determines the flight isn't needed it's canceled. If they determine yes aircare is indeed needed they begin preparing the patient for transport to the LZ.
08/14/24
Billy Marts
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