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Medevacs make plans to land
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET © St. Petersburg Times, published August 31, 2000 INVERNESS -- Two Tampa-area hospitals are interested in stationing a medical evacuation helicopter, or medevac, in Citrus County to cut the transport time for taking this region's trauma patients to the hospital. Tampa General Hospital is considering adding a third helicopter to its Aeromed fleet and keeping it at the Inverness Airport around the clock, spokesman John Dunn said. The helicopter would cover Citrus and neighboring parts of Hernando, Sumter, Lake, Marion and Levy counties. Dunn said the Aeromed helicopter would bring all patients to Tampa General, which has the only Level I trauma center -- the most extensive level -- in Central Florida. "We have a need to expand our patient base," Dunn said. "And that region up there has a need for a helicopter that can transport patients quickly, within the golden hour. It's just a good match." Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg also is looking at the possibility of stationing a Bayflite helicopter in Citrus, but spokeswoman Lisa Patterson said it was too early to talk details. "We're just taking a look at the needs there to see whether it would be a good fit," she said. Bayfront has a Level II trauma center. Hospital and ambulance officials agree that the region could use its own medevac. Citrus County alone had 180 patients transported by helicopter last year. It would cost the county nothing to host a medevac station, Public Safety director Charles Poliseno said, because the hospitals would pay for the service by billing patients. But because at least two hospitals are interested in providing the same service, the county will ask all medevac systems in the area to submit formal proposals so officials can choose one, Poliseno said. The county will send out requests for proposals Friday to Tampa General and Bayfront, as well as to Shands at the University of Florida hospital in Gainesville and Orlando Regional Medical Center, although the last two have not expressed interest in stationing a medevac here, Poliseno said. Poliseno said he will review the proposals with a representative from the Board of County Commissioners and the Nature Coast Emergency Medical Foundation, the not-for-profit group that will take over the ambulance system when Florida Regional Emergency Medical Services leaves Citrus on Oct. 1. He hopes the county can decide on one provider within a week or two. The designated provider would be the first copter called in an emergency, Poliseno said, but the county still could call on an outside medevac if the local one could not respond. "We would still have the ability to utilize other providers if this one was busy or if there were multiple calls," he said. Having a medevac stationed in Inverness could shave up to 20 minutes off the transport time for patients here, saving precious minutes of the "golden hour," Florida Regional operations coordinator Randy Van Alstine said. The clock starts ticking once a person suffers a serious injury, such as a gunshot wound to the chest or head trauma from a car accident. In general, the patient's survival chances are much better if he gets to the hospital within an hour. As it is now, Van Alstine said, it takes at least a few minutes for someone to call 911 after an accident. By the time paramedics arrive, 10 minutes have passed. If the patient is north of State Road 44, paramedics call Shands for a medevac, he said. South of SR 44, paramedics call for the Bayflite helicopter stationed at the Tampa Executive Airport on State Road 54 in south Pasco County. Either helicopter usually takes between 20 to 25 minutes to arrive, Van Alstine said. After taking about 10 minutes to load the patient, and another 20 to 25 minutes to fly back to the hospital trauma center in Gainesville or St. Petersburg, the golden hour has been spent, he said. By contrast, he said, a medevac stationed in Inverness could get to most parts of the county within five minutes, and parts of neighboring counties within 10 minutes. "The golden hour would not be eaten up by a lot of flying time," Van Alstine said. "The prognosis for trauma patients would be greatly improved simply because they can get to the trauma facility faster." Because a medevac program would be such a boon to the county, Van Alstine said, the Rotary Club of Inverness has agreed to help pay for any station set-up costs. Van Alstine is Rotary president this year. "We'll do whatever we can to help them come up here," he said.
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