For more information, contact:
Tom O’Connor, UNMC Public Affairs
Phone: (402) 559-4690
Jo Miller, Saint Joseph Hospital PR
Phone: (402) 449-4080
July 1, 1997
UNMC, Saint Joseph Hospital Begin Combined Air Ambulance
Service
A new era in air ambulance service for the region was launched today,
as Saint Joseph Hospital’s Life Flight and the University of Nebraska Medical
Center’s SkyMed have combined their medical helicopter and fixed wing programs
under the new name of MedFlight.
The combined program will supply all the services provided by the separate
operations but under a single, more efficient program.
The new operation is administered by Rocky Mountain Helicopter Inc.,
a Provo, Utah company which is the nation’s leading provider of emergency
air transportation. Rocky Mountain Helicopter has provided aircraft, maintenance
and pilots for both services for more than 10 years.
The combined program provides several immediate benefits to all three
organizations, said Terry Paulsen, associate hospital director for University
Hospital at UNMC.
"The need to become more efficient was the driving force behind
this consolidation. By combining the two programs into a single service,
we will eliminate costly duplication of services and realize cost efficiencies
by having just one dispatch center and one flight crew," Paulsen said.
Medical helicopter programs across the country generally lose money,
said Howard Regsdale, regional vice president for marketing with Rocky
Mountain, and both SkyMed and Life Flight had been operating at a loss.
By combining the programs, Rocky Mountain hopes to cut costs and not operate
at a loss, he said.
Based on historical costs, MedFlight is expected to realize about $1
million in reduced expenses, said Mary Gorman, senior vice president for
patient services at Saint Joseph Hospital, with UNMC projecting expense
reductions of about $750,000 and Saint Joseph Hospital projecting reductions
of about $250,000. UNMC’s expenses have been higher, because it has operated
both a fixed-wing plane service as well as a helicopter service.
As a further means of reducing costs, Rocky Mountain Helicopter has
established one regional dispatch center at 1915 S. 38th Ave. to handle
emergency air transportation calls for the Omaha and Kansas City, Mo. areas.
All former flight crew members were offered the opportunity to apply
for positions with the combined program, Gorman said, and many did. Officials
from both programs also have worked hard to assure that all former flight
crew members have been offered a parallel position within their respective
institutions.
Eleven people from the SkyMed and Life Flight flight crews are now working
for the MedFlight service. In addition, several former SkyMed and Life
Flight flight nurses have accepted positions as critical care nurses at
either Saint Joseph Hospital or University Hospital.
The chief flight nurses for the Life Flight and SkyMed programs will
hold key positions with the MedFlight service. Michelle Logsdon, chief
flight nurse for Life Flight, has been appointed program director. Steve
Ullrich, chief flight nurse for SkyMed, was designated chief flight nurse
for MedFlight. Richard Walker, M.D., who has been serving as medical director
for SkyMed, was named medical director for MedFlight.
One fully-staffed helicopter and crew will be stationed on a rotating
basis at either Saint Joseph or University Hospital, operating 24 hours
a day. A second helicopter will be available during peak hours.
All flights will be staffed by a nurse and a paramedic, Paulsen said,
and a neonatal specialty team will be used for transports involving small
infants.
MedFlight will provide emergency service within about a 150-mile radius
of Omaha, an area that -more- includes parts of five states — Nebraska,
Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and South Dakota, Paulsen said.
Under the Omaha trauma system, Saint Joseph Hospital is the designated
trauma center on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, while UNMC is
the trauma center on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.
Some of the rural or outlying paramedic or emergency medical transport
services will benefit from the consolidation, Gorman said. "There
is now only one service to call, one phone number to remember, and no more
trying to figure out who is the designated trauma center that night."
To contact MedFlight, EMT services can call toll-free to 1-888-481-7040.
"We feel this is a win-win situation for both UNMC and Saint Joseph
Hospital. The new MedFlight name is indicative of the cooperative spirit
between the two hospitals," Gorman said. "We feel it sends a
strong message that we used part of each program’s name in the new name."
A new color scheme and logo have been designed, Gorman said. Crew members
will wear identical uniforms similar to the navy blue jump suits presently
worn by both crews. Some of these jump suits have already arrived. It will
take several months before the two helicopters are painted. When finished,
they will be silver with green, blue and red trim.
Life Flight started in 1979, while SkyMed started in 1981. Combined
the two programs have transported more than 15,000 patients and flown more
than 1 million miles. It’s anticipated that MedFlight will make between
900 and 1,000 helicopter flights annually as well as about 110 fixed-wing
transports.