Mobile Life Support Services no longer providing Lifeguard medevac service

[GTR8000]

Effective April 30th, MLSS will no longer provide flight medics for the Lifeguard helicopters out of Orange County. It's not clear yet what, if anything, the NYSP will do with the program going forward.

Today we have notified our staff and the counties that we serve that Lifeguard will launch for the last time on April 30, 2013. For the past 19 years the New York State Police Aviation Division and Mobile Life Support Services have worked together to provide over 1,000 Medivac and Search & Rescue Missions to the surrounding areas. The emergency services field has seen many changes since Lifeguard first launched in 1994. Taking all these changes into consideration, Mobile Life administration carefully reevaluated the program. There were many factors that played a role in the decision to end this program, including medical advances in the pre-hospital and hospital setting that are now offered to patients by EMS agencies throughout the area and local hospitals. Over the years there have been many different paramedics who have worn the blue flight suit and Mobile Life is very proud of each and every one. Lastly we want to thank the New York State Police Aviation Unit, who for 19 years got us home safe each and every time.

https://www.facebook.com/MobileLifeSupport/posts/329636300472965

 

[DaveNF2G]

I'm guessing that aeromed in that area will end up being provided solely by Air Methods / LifeNet of NY.

 

[onsceno]

This is very interesting... this will certainly give "other" projects work.

 

[GTR8000]

I'm guessing that aeromed in that area will end up being provided solely by Air Methods / LifeNet of NY.

Hackensack UMC AirMed 1 is located in Passaic County just 2.6 miles from the Orange/Rockland border. Atlantic Air 3 is located in Sussex County just 5.5 miles from the Orange County border.

There are other options in the immediate area besides LifeNet.

 

[sc800]

There were many factors that played a role in the decision to end this program, including medical advances in the pre-hospital and hospital setting that are now offered to patients by EMS agencies throughout the area and local hospitals.

Read: ORMC is becoming a trauma center and it will soon no longer be cost effective to fly to WMC

Also: BLS is finally realizing they don't have to be dependent on ALS and don't need to fly out everything and everyone

 

[GTR8000]

Also: BLS is finally realizing they don't have to be dependent on ALS and don't need to fly out everything and everyone

Good one! If it weren't so true and sad that BLS is entirely too dependent on ALS, and that will never change, it might actually be funny! Let's be real, both BLS and ALS in this area abuse the medevacs, and have been doing it for a very long time. This is not just a BLS issue, this is an issue with the culture of EMS in this area. The area got hooked on using medevacs in the very early 90s and it has only gotten worse over time.

 

[PJH]

I also found that (related to my OC911 post) that newer EMT's or older tainted EMT's do not trust the EMD system at times or how the dispatcher puts out the call. Read - you have a properly coded non-emergency (alpha) call but the way its dispatched the EMT thinks its more serious and requests ALS even before they arrive on scene wasting local assets.

I do agree that the helicopter has been quite abused. I had to land one for EMS for someone had a partial amputation of a finger. By the time it was all said and done, they could have been the hospital before the helicopter had them in the air.

 

[riveter]

Disregarding that tangent... I was talking to a NYSP Aviation pilot last summer, and he said they've begun adding some form of medevac/casevac capability themselves to maintain a decent amount of airtime- I haven't seen them or their birds in a very long time, so I don't know whether he was talking about the N###SP aircraft like the B430s that are actually in the blue and gold, or secondary stuff like MLSS aircraft, but it sounded like he was talking about actual State resources, much like the Trooper birds down in MD.

 

[GTR8000]

I don't know whether he was talking about the N###SP aircraft like the B430s that are actually in the blue and gold, or secondary stuff like MLSS aircraft

MLSS flight medics were carried aboard NYSP Bell 430 helicopters (Lifeguard 17 and 18), there was no "secondary stuff" for MLSS.

Mobile Life Medics and NYSP Lifeguard 17 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[DaveNF2G]

Same here in Albany. Colonie EMS flight crews staff LIFEGUARD12 missions aboard a B430.