New service will save lives

McCook has recently "landed" a new business that will make a huge difference in the lives of the citizens in Southwest Nebraska. MedStar Air Ambulance began serving our area in June and I would like to stress the importance of this valuable service to our area and how fortunate we are to have this service available to us.

Med-a-vac helicopters be-came extremely popular during and after the Vietnam War. They were used as a quick and efficient means of transporting wounded troops from the front lines of the war to the field hospitals for medical treatment.

This evolved into the service that we see today. However, most helicopter air ambulance services are only located in major metropolitan areas. Ground ambulances have to battle heavy traffic in order to get to and from the scene of the emergency. In major cities, a 2-mile ambulance transport to the hospital by ground may take several minutes. So, a medical helicopter can save valuable time by transporting the patient by air and avoiding traffic issues.

In rural areas traffic is usually not a problem. However, there is an even worse problem that is more life threatening in our area. When someone is seriously injured in a rural area, they require surgery and treatment by a specially trained team of doctors, surgeons, nurses, and other specialized medical personnel who work in special designated trauma centers. The sooner that the patient can get to the trauma center to receive this special care, the better their outcome. This is referred to as the "Golden Hour" or "Golden Period." More specifically, this means that once the injury has occurred, the patient needs to be in surgery, at a trauma center, within one hour.

Southwest Nebraska is very blessed to have very qualified and professional medical facilities and staff to rely on in cases of trauma injuries. Prehospital pro-viders in our area, along with physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel, have received and continue to receive top-notch training in the area of trauma. This training is very valuable and includes how to promptly and efficiently recognize serious trauma situations and arrange for extended care, which may include transferring a patient to a trauma center, depending on the extent of the injuries.

Prior to having a medical helicopter in McCook, it was nearly impossible to meet the golden hour.

By the time the patient was treated in the field by EMT's and Paramedics, transported to a local hospital and stabilized, the golden hour may have already passed. Once the patient is stabilized at the local hospital, arrangements are made to transfer the patient to a trauma center. Kearney had the nearest medical helicopter. It usually takes approximately 30 minutes for the helicopter to get to McCook from Kearney, once notification is made and the helicopter takes off. With the special training that the area has received, the prehospital providers can advise the hospital when they feel that the injuries are serious enough to require transport to a regional trauma center. When this happens, the hospital can immediately call and put the helicopter on standby.

However, it was still 30 minutes away. So, even under the most ideal situations, when the patient is initially treated in the field, rapidly transported to the local hospital, rapidly stabilized and transported to a regional trauma center, it is nearly impossible to get this done within the golden hour.

This all changed with the addition of the MedStar team to our area. The helicopter is less than five minutes from the McCook hospital, and only minutes away from other hospitals in our area. This service will cut valuable, precious minutes off of the golden hour.

Another service that MedStar offers is on-scene flights. When a trauma occurs, ambulances are dispatched to the scene. Once the patient is initially treated, they are transported to the nearest medical facility. However, with MedStar, the ambulance personnel have the option of dispatching the MedStar helicopter directly to the scene. When this is done, the helicopter will be off of the ground and en route, usually in less than five minutes. Once the helicopter team lands on the scene, a professional team of specially trained nurses and paramedics will treat the patient and has the ability of transporting the patient directly to the regional trauma center, saving valuable minutes and meeting the golden hour.

The helicopter will be a huge asset, not only for trauma cases but for medical emergencies also. A person suffering a heart attack may need the specialized care of a cardiologist. Air transport to a cardiac center can now be done in less than half the time that it takes to get there by a ground ambulance.

I am sure that this service will save lives in Southwest Nebraska. I think that the citizens in Southwest Nebraska should be thankful that this service cares about our quality of life in rural America and has decided on McCook for its new home.

Thank you MedStar!

-- Harpham is fire chief and paramedic with the McCook City and Volunteer Fire Department.