Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Ozimoto, post: 2806843, member: 6677"] Here in Maryland, the Maryland State Police operate the air medical evacuation transport fleet. We have strict protocols in place as to when to fly a patient based on severity of injury, distance to receiving facility, weather, and time of day. We rarely fly anyone in central Maryland any more unless the distance to the receiving facility (in our case the University of Maryland Hospital Shock Trauma Center or the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Trauma Center, both in Baltimore) is more than 15 to 20 miles or there is a gridlocked traffic situation. MSP has had several serious accidents with fatalities over the years when they operated in a more aggressive transport mode. In the more rural parts of the state, Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore, flights are more prevalent, and justified as the distances to major trauma centers are often in the range of 75 to 100 miles. Several private companies also fly here, but they perform strictly facility to facility transport flights. They have tried to get involved in the air evac role, but the state has not allowed them to operate in that capacity for some of the reasons that have been mentioned here. Even with the state police providing the service, the flights still are costly. $40,000 is about the going rate from what I know of the system. [/QUOTE]