Sky Health

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coolrich55

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You learn something new everyday. Here I thought lifestar was the only medical helicopter in CT. Turns out there's sky health based in New Haven and Long Island I believe. Reading up on it they've been around since 2014. Only reason I heard about them today is I'm hearing the one from the Island got called to Old Lyme for the search of the guy fallen through the ice. Do they provide search and rescue as well as lifestar? And do they have a dispatch frequency?
 

brndnstffrd

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The last I knew Sky Health was only 1 helicopter shared between the 2 hospitals, not separate ones like Lifestar, although this may have changed.

Sky Health is for hospital to hospital transfers only and does not do scene calls like Lifestar does. I believe they are on the OneVoice DMR system
 

coolrich55

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I don't know if they got called to Old Lyme to transport the victims that fell through the ice or to search for them. Like I said this is the first I've heard them around here. Is lifestar used for searches if needed? Yep they're on the onevoice network.
 
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digitalBill

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I've seen various NY helicopters responding to incidents in northwest CT and also transporting to CT hospitals (Sharon and Norwalk). On the subject of choppers, is Trooper 1 still in service?
 

cg

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Trooper 1 and 2 are still owned by the CSP but they are rarely used. The staff usually needs to be called in. Even the troops rarely ask any more if they are available. I would guess that the majority of their flights are for training.

chris
 

N1SQB

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Lifestar is still the only authorized emergency response helicopter in the state of CT. They hold the R-5 emergency response authorization from the state. Sky Health is shared between Yale hospital and another hospital in Long Island N.Y. specifically for inter-facility transfers. It is staffed exactly like Lifestar but just doesnt respond like them here in CT. That is, unless something has changed. The picture below is from a video I took of them at a local event near my house last year.

https://www.ynhhs.org/providers/sky-health.aspx

MannyView attachment 68041
 
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APX7500X2

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Things have changed. Sky Health can do scene calls under certain circumstances.
Life Star tried for years to be the AMR of the sky and own everything but it didn't hold out
Why do you think Life Star moved from Hartford to Meriden....Closer to Fairfield county where Sky health sits alot
 

N1SQB

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Things have changed. Sky Health can do scene calls under certain circumstances.
Life Star tried for years to be the AMR of the sky and own everything but it didn't hold out
Why do you think Life Star moved from Hartford to Meriden....Closer to Fairfield county where Sky health sits alot

Thank you for clearing that up. I knew they moved but never thought about it that way. Now, the question comes up, is Lifestar still primary responder? What is the response order?

Manny
 

Kitn1mcc

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From what i heard Life star 1 was one a call 2 out of service,. They called Sky health from LI. By the time it got there it was no longer needed seeing how that was the point it went from a rescue to a recovery. they did have it make a few passes over the lake to look.
 

Schoolcop

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You learn something new everyday. Here I thought lifestar was the only medical helicopter in CT. Turns out there's sky health based in New Haven and Long Island I believe. Reading up on it they've been around since 2014. Only reason I heard about them today is I'm hearing the one from the Island got called to Old Lyme for the search of the guy fallen through the ice. Do they provide search and rescue as well as lifestar? And do they have a dispatch frequency?
The Dispatch Freq. for Sky Health is on the One Voice Network the talk group is 301005
 

sefrischling

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Regarding Life Star and the Old Lyme ice call, none of the Life Star helos were available, nor were the helos out of UMass. Sky Health can fly and handle scene calls under specific circumstances, this met those circumstances, no other helo available. Sky Health was coming out of Long Island for the Old Lyme call, it would have landed at the LZ, but after a fly over of the scene was released, and the call was moved from rescue to recovery.

Do not expect to be seeing Sky Health handling the routine EMS calls throughout Connecticut. As for Trooper 1, that helo is not a medevac helo, it is not dispatched as a medevac, nor does it operate as one.

I was on scene, monitoring OLFD, CSP, DEEP and Life Star Center , so I heard the total conversations over the air and on the ground.
 

sefrischling

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"Why do you think Life Star moved from Hartford to Meriden....Closer to Fairfield county where Sky health sits alot"

The move for Life Star was when a 3rd helo was added , and it was determined that having a helo in Meriden made more sense , with the positioning of three helos. Sky Health was not a factor as it does not fly as a scene helo, unless under specific circumstances. Sky Health is an inter facility helo operating from Nassau County and New Haven.
 

coolrich55

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Cool info. Thanks guys. One last question. When OLFD went to uhf I never hear anything on 33.96 anymore. Unfortunately I can't pick up the newer frequency from here. But the other day I did hear tones and the message about a member that had passed away on 33.96. What's used for dispatch now just uhf or both?
 

APX7500X2

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You can see Sky Health most days on the roof of the Bridgeport Hospital parking garage, they have a house they use behind the hospital to stay in, the only time they are in New Haven is drop off or pick up.

And Sky Health was a huge if not the only factor in Life Stars move, the 2 min fly time they gain between Hartford and Meriden to anywhere in the state would not justify the money to move to Meriden, But missing out on transports would!
 
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