Busy MSP Helo

[glhs837]

Southern Maryland Medevac Helicopter Considered The Busiest In The State - The BayNet

After going out on 408 missions in 2020, the Southern Maryland Section of the Maryland State Police's helicopter sections is considered to be the busiest in the state.

www.thebaynet.com

Here's what I dont get. Seems like at least half of the reports that include a helo flight are for "non-life threatening injuries". If that's the case, why fly them?

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Southern Maryland Medevac Helicopter Considered The Busiest In The State - The BayNet

After going out on 408 missions in 2020, the Southern Maryland Section of the Maryland State Police's helicopter sections is considered to be the busiest in the state.

www.thebaynet.com

Here's what I dont get. Seems like at least half of the reports that include a helo flight are for "non-life threatening injuries". If that's the case, why fly them?

To inflate their numbers to show the need.

 

[BadGirl]

I don't know, but I find this practice personally detrimental to those who truly need help services.

My dad suffered a heart attack, and the local helo was in use TRANSPORTING A BROKEN LEG to a DC metro hospital. My dad died due to not getting the help he needed in a timely manner.

 

[stgislander]

A friend of mine used to run (maybe still does) with Ridge Rescue Squad. Based on the injuries, he could tell if it was something St Mary's could/would handle or just send up the road. Based on the time it would take for the ambulance to run "up the road", he never has issues justifying a medivac flight out.

 

[Tech]

A friend of mine used to run (maybe still does) with Ridge Rescue Squad. Based on the injuries, he could tell if it was something St Mary's could/would handle or just send up the road. Based on the time it would take for the ambulance to run "up the road", he never has issues justifying a medivac flight out.

Yep, when I ran back home, the local hospitals could handle a gunshot wound but if it a chest or abdominal hit, they wanted you take them to trauma center which was just 5 miles away. If after a trauma if the patient showed certain vitals they went to trauma center.
We're just so far by ground that under certain parameters the patient is flown. It's all statistics.

 

[mdff21]

I don't know, but I find this practice personally detrimental to those who truly need help services.

My dad suffered a heart attack, and the local helo was in use TRANSPORTING A BROKEN LEG to a DC metro hospital. My dad died due to not getting the help he needed in a timely manner.

Sorry for your loss. However the MSP helicopters are very seldom used for medical emergencies. There are criteria in place for calling for a medivac. The ambulance crew has to consult with a hospital to determine if the patient should be flown. Granted a broken leg sounds like something minor, but if the fracture involves the femur, there are underlying problems like arterial bleeding. The medical emergencies are transported to a local hospital by ambulance and if needed an inter-hospital transfer is accomplished usually by a Medstar helicopter.

 

[Gilligan]

Granted a broken leg sounds like something minor, but if the fracture involves the femur, there are underlying problems like arterial bleeding.

That. When my wife suffered multiple compound fractures of her leg, with bone protruding, there was not a moment's question they had to fly her from Callaway to the trauma center at PGH. She came very close to losing that leg in the days that followed.

I was busting up to the horse farm from St. George's after getting the call about her accident and saw the helo circling in as I was getting close to the farm. The helo got there before I did.

 

[TPD]

The helo got there before I did.

Is that because you drive a ford?

But seriously, we can criticize (and I have done that a lot with the emergency responders and helo use and ladder trucks, and etc) but until we or family members are involved in an accident then we really should keep our mouths shut. But I probably won't.

 

[Gilligan]

Is that because you drive a ford?

Only the fast ones....

 

[LightRoasted]

If I may ...

Gotta keep the justification up for the tax added onto phone bills that pays for that helicopter, and program.

 

[Gilligan]

If I may ...

Gotta keep the justification up for the tax added onto phone bills that pays for that helicopter, and program.

I’m certainly glad we have it.

 

[Hijinx]

Ambulances have certain protocols they use for calling for a helicopter. These protocols must be followed.
On many calls the Ambulance has spoken to a hospital and told the amount of the injuries to a Doctor who has told them what to do.
It's called a "consult" and there are protocols on that too.

Now----IMO the biggest problem is that St. Mary's hospital will not take Trauma cases.
What this amounts to is people badly injured or even not so badly , but it's a Trauma Protocol patient , in Automobile or other incidents are transported to a trauma hospital.
Not so bad when the helicopter is available.

But on rainy days and icy days or windy days and when a Copter is not available, or not flying that means a seriously injured patient is transported by land to a Trauma Hospital.
In Leonardtown that means an hour and fifteen minute trip in an ambulance to PG or WHC longer in the rain or snow or at rush hour on the beltway, That means almost 2 hours from Ridge.

When a helicopter is not available St. Mary's should take Trauma patients and heart attacks.
If they are not capable of handling that then Medstar should make sure they are capable. It's a hospital, not a clinic.
A seriously injured Trauma patient should not have to lay in an Ambulance for an hour and a half while being helped by a Paramedic or an EMT and not a Doctor. They should b e stabilized at St. Marys' and transported later. if they need to be.
Another thing while that Ambulance is gone from St. Mary's County for a minimum of 3 to 4 hours for the round trip their district is not covered or relied on to get out a 2nd crew which may not be available.

That's my opinion and I am sticking to it.

 

[LightRoasted]

If I may ...

Ambulances have certain protocols they use for calling for a helicopter. These protocols must be followed.
On many calls the Ambulance has spoken to a hospital and told the amount of the injuries to a Doctor who has told them what to do.
It's called a "consult" and there are protocols on that too.

Now----IMO the biggest problem is that St. Mary's hospital will not take Trauma cases.
What this amounts to is people badly injured or even not so badly , but it's a Trauma Protocol patient , in Automobile or other incidents are transported to a trauma hospital.
Not so bad when the helicopter is available.

But on rainy days and icy days or windy days and when a Copter is not available, or not flying that means a seriously injured patient is transported by land to a Trauma Hospital.
In Leonardtown that means an hour and fifteen minute trip in an ambulance to PG or WHC longer in the rain or snow or at rush hour on the beltway, That means almost 2 hours from Ridge.

When a helicopter is not available St. Mary's should take Trauma patients and heart attacks.
If they are not capable of handling that then Medstar should make sure they are capable. It's a hospital, not a clinic.
A seriously injured Trauma patient should not have to lay in an Ambulance for an hour and a half while being helped by a Paramedic or an EMT and not a Doctor. They should b e stabilized at St. Marys' and transported later. if they need to be.
Another thing while that Ambulance is gone from St. Mary's County for a minimum of 3 to 4 hours for the round trip their district is not covered or relied on to get out a 2nd crew which may not be available.

That's my opinion and I am sticking to it.

I've often wondered that myself. Why is it, that a "hospital" is incapable of treating a trauma or heart attack patient? Do they just do the real easy medical stuff and charge outrageously high prices? Can't nearby hospitals at least stabilize a patient and then, if necessary, call for transport?

 

[DaSDGuy]

I had a guy trimming my trees with a chainsaw. When he was 20 feet up in a tree he sliced his arm to the bones from wrist to elbow. He managed to rappel down on his on. EMTs stabilized the bleeding but said he would lose the arm without micro-surgery. He was flown out and went into surgery 30 minutes after landing. All is well now. That wasn't called life threatening but it was damn important to him to save his arm.

 

[Gilligan]

If I may ...


I've often wondered that myself. Why is it, that a "hospital" is incapable of treating a trauma or heart attack patient? Do they just do the real easy medical stuff and charge outrageously high prices? Can't nearby hospitals at least stabilize a patient and then, if necessary, call for transport?

The entire range of more highly trained staff, from doctors through nurses and technicians, as well as the massive array of specialized equipment, is what makes shock trauma units and ICUs something that not every hospital could ever possibly maintain.

When I fell off the roof of a building, they flew me to the UM-Baltimore shock trauma unit, considered one of the best in the entire country. They barely managed to save my life, initially, and then miraculously managed to save the use of my legs. because the orthopedic docs supporting that trauma facility were the best of the best and had all sorts of cool experimental stuff they tried on me (that worked...I'm the subject of some papers in some medical journal somewhere...LOL). A regular hospital like Calvert or St. Mary's could have done none of those things...I'd be dead, or, at best, in a wheel chair for life.

When my wife broke her leg in 12 places in a horse riding accident, they flew her to the trauma center and Prince George's Hospital Center. She went through a series of operations conducted by two very remarkably talented ortho surgeons and they save her leg...just barely. Again..nothing that could have been done locally.

One of my best friend's sons and some buddy's were horsing around with a "short bus" they bought as a joke to have some fun with. The boy fell out of the bus door while it was rolling and cracked his head really hard on the pavement...massive concussion and brain injury. They took him to St. Mary's. When my buddy arrived to see his son, the staff had just called in a priest to administer last rites. My buddy went apeshit ballistic on them and managed to get an emergency transfer to Georgetown underway. That young lad survived...and stopped by my shop today about some motorcycle repair work, in fact. It did take several years of continuous rehab before he regained the use of most of his faculties..but today you'd never know that the St. Mary's hospital had given him up for dead.

 

[Hijinx]

The flights are great, but imagine yourself riding in a ground ambulance for an hour and a half with that injury. especially with the roads in the shitty shape they are in. 2 hr.s to Baltimore. I am not against the flights. Just that Ground transport for a couple of hours without stabilization
Of course the Doctors at Trauma centers are great, but you have to get there alive first, without further damage in transportation, without going into shock on the ride.

 

[mitzi]

If I may ...


I've often wondered that myself. Why is it, that a "hospital" is incapable of treating a trauma or heart attack patient? Do they just do the real easy medical stuff and charge outrageously high prices? Can't nearby hospitals at least stabilize a patient and then, if necessary, call for transport?

Yes, they can and do. I've experienced it first hand.

 

[spr1975wshs]

When I was driving to work yesterday, saw the chopper dropping into Millison Plaza.

 

[RoseRed]

When I was driving to work yesterday, saw the chopper dropping into Millison Plaza.

Child Flown to Area Trauma Center After Being Struck by Vehicle in Lexington Park | Southern Maryland News Net | Southern Maryland News Net (smnewsnet.com)