Emergency Medical Helicopter Services

[BedfordFire 7]

I was wondering how many different helicopter services operate out of our lower hudson valley, north jersey and connecticut area, and what the companies are, how many choppers they fly, where their service areas are, and where their helicopters are kept. I was also wondering (dumb question) if the new york metropolitan area has an emergency helicopter serivce, or if there is a need for one? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[201/65 94]

Westchester Medical Center runs 2 Medevacs under the name STAT(stabilization, treatment, and transport) Flight

STAT Flight Air-1 is based @ the Westchester Medical Center in Valhala, NY

STAT Flight Air-2 is based @ the Kobelt Airport in Wallkill, NY(Ulster Co.)

Mobile Life Support Services(Newburgh, NY) in conjunction with the NYSP staff Life Guard 18 which is based @ the Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, NY

The University Hospital(Newark, NJ) in conjunction with the NJSP staff NorthSTAR which is based @ the Somerset Airport in Somerville, NJ

Edited May 17, 2006 by 201/65

[IzzyEng4 427]

LifeStar in CT is based out of Hartford Hospital. They run two helocopters, Lifestar 1 (Blue with white graffics) and Lifestar 2 (White with Blue graffics). One is stationed at Hartford Hospital and the other at Baccus Hospital in Norwich. This gives all of CT, RI and Southern Mass plenty of coverage.

On a separate note, the was talk of having a third air-med unit out of Bridgeport or New Haven in the past years but nothing came about it yet. Also it is unknown who would sponsor this unit since Hartford Hospital doesn not have a partnership hospital in the area. Rumors had that it was going to be a Yale-New Haven / Bridgport hospital sponsorship but you know how rumors and politicians are.

[Porsha911gt3 8]

Visit this site, this has all of the Lifenet helicopter locations

http://www.airmethods.com/prog_locs/index....oc_serv=lifenet

Mobile Life Support Services(Newburgh, NY) in conjunction with the NYSP staff Life Guard 18 which is based @ the Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, NY

They also Staff Life Guard 17, also out of Stewart

There is also Albany Med Flight

http://members.aol.com/gryniuk/medflight.html

Edited May 17, 2006 by Porsha911gt3

[ja3kfd 34]

I was told that West. Medical does not run the Helicopters any more, Rocky Mountain runs both the Pilots and Nurses, 1 is based there but when they are requested 60 control call on land line to have them dispatched I heard even the phone call is placed to Colorado,West. Medical was losing to much money when they ran it,

[JScott128 41]

Here is a pic of NorthSTAR, a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter. NorthSTAR covers Northern NJ and the NJSP also runs SouthSTAR, which covers southern NJ. When they are not on a Medevac mission, NJSP helos are called by their tail number, so this helo would be called "Helicopter 5" on the radio. I believe NorthSTAR stands for Shock Trauma Air Rescue.

[STAT213 332]

Ok, here is the lineup.

LifeNet (a division of Airmethods Corp.) runs four aircraft in the state.

Life Net 7-1 Aka Albany One an EC 135 out of Albany Med

Life Net 7-2 out of Glen NY. Either an AS 350 B2 or a BO-105

Life Net 7-3 aka STAT Flight Air One BK-117 A3 out of WMC

Life Net 7-4 aka STAT Flight Air Two BK-117 A4 out of Kobelt Airport.

WMC USED key word here folks USED to run the a/c. The defaulted on payment to their vendor and it is now privatized. Joy.

Also in New York, located out of Stewart Int'l Airport is the NYSP Aviation Division. They have 2 A/C.

Lifeguard 17 a Bell 430

Lifeguard 18 a Bell 407

They are staffed by Mobile Life Support Services and have one paramedic on the a/c. Yup one. Not a nurse and a paramedic, but one paramedic. Oh, and they operate in violation of a number of federal statutes. But, who is counting?

In Jersey, you used to have just 2 a/c, both run by the Jersey State Police.

There are now 4

One NJSP S-76 B is based out of an airport in Northern Jersey @ Somerset County Airport.

The other is based out of Trenton; they also run a spare.

PHI runs 2 aircraft in Jersey, in partnership with Atlantic City Medical Center and with Monoc. Both are EC-135s.

Connecticut has the two a/c run by Hartford Hospital as mentioned above.

Both are currently BK117s (not sure if A3 or A4)

One is based at Hartford Hospital and the other is Based at Backus Hospital in Norwalk, CT.

For those wanting pictures of EMS helicopters, here is a link to pretty much the best site around for them. Its run by a 10 year old kid.

http://alecbuck.com/airambulance/mediagallery/index.php

Want to know more. PM me, I'll fill you in on the rest.

Rob

[Guest]

Stat 123 - Lifestar is out of NorWICH, not NorWALK ---big difference!!!!!

[STAT213 332]

Stat 123 - Lifestar is out of NorWICH, not NorWALK ---big difference!!!!!

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whoops. my bad. i had the "nor" right...

thanks for pointing that out!!

Rob

[STAT213 332]

Just realized that the original poster asked about NYC.

Nope, no dedicated EMS a/c. There is no where to land in the city. Once in a blue moon, you can convince the PD supervisor to let you land @ Jacobi.

Otherwise, you cannot land at a hospital. The Pan Am rooftop crash and Mayor Guiliani ended anybody landing on a rooftop pad in the city.

For example, if you are bringing a patient to Columbia Pres by air, you have to land @ West 30th and go for a drive, a LONG drive in the back of somebody's ambulance.

Rob

[INIT915 1,119]

Oh, and they operate in violation of a number of federal statutes.  But, who is counting? 

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Such as?

[IzzyEng4 427]

whoops.  my bad.  i had the "nor" right...

thanks for pointing that out!!

Rob

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Had it listed in my post already

[WAS967 97]

Somebody told me recently that the Lifeguard medics have the ability to rapel out of the Aircraft for missions. I smell BS. Anyone care to prove/debunk?

[Monty 35]

Somebody told me recently that the Lifeguard medics have the ability to rapel out of the Aircraft for missions. I smell BS. Anyone care to prove/debunk?

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The NYSP Lifeguard helicopter out of Albany provides EMS service. It's based at Albany Airport in Colonie. It is staffed by (paid) paramedics from the Town Of Colonie EMS department. As it is a NYSP helicopter, it does have a hoist and the paramedics / flight crew are certified for extraction - can't be sure about rapelling though. See the CEMS site for more details...

[201/65 94]

Somebody told me recently that the Lifeguard medics have the ability to rapel out of the Aircraft for missions. I smell BS. Anyone care to prove/debunk?

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I'm not exactally sure about 'repelling' out of the Life Guard ships but I kno the Life Guards out of Stewart do lower the medics with the baskets, I've seen it done.