By Chandra Johnson
The Taos News
TAOS, N.M. — When it comes to treating trauma injuries, Taos EMT Director Joaquin Gonzales calls the amount of time paramedics have to help a patient “the golden hour.”
“For trauma patients, they have a golden hour to be evaluated by a doctor. For cardiac patients, we say time is muscle,” Gonzales said. “Our job is to get patients to definitive care in a timely manner.”
Gonzales and medical professionals at Holy Cross Hospital are now concerned some future patients could spend their golden hour waiting for medical helicopters after the announcement last week (July 7) that a vital air medical base in Santa Fe has closed.
Statewide air ambulance service PHI Air Medical cited the poor economy as its reason for last week’s closure.
Former PHI paramedic Fernando Medina said some 13 employees at the base were notified last Wednesday (July 7) that they were out of jobs.
“It’s going to have a big impact on all of Northern New Mexico,” Medina said. “When somebody’s hurt, the last thing you want to think about is why it’s taking so long.”
Medina, Gonzales and Holy Cross Hospital confirmed that medical helicopters are a crucial tool when saving lives in rural areas like Taos.
Another helicopter service, REACH Medical, is reportedly looking into expanding coverage to New Mexico. REACH Chief Services Officer Sean Russell said in a statement that REACH has been “actively considering New Mexico,” but they had not come to a decision.
Holy Cross CEO Peter Hofstetter said he was exploring the option.
“REACH did speak with us and other hospitals in the area about bringing a helicopter to Northern New Mexico. At the time we felt the service from PHI was working well so there was not a need for another service,” Hofstetter said. “I guess we will have to revisit this, and I plan to speak to the other hospitals in Santa Fe, Española and Los Alamos.”
While there is a second helicopter service in Santa Fe — TriState CareFlight — Gonzales and others are concerned that trauma injuries and cardiac incidents could be worsened by a 55-minute wait for service from Albuquerque — or even longer if CareFlight is busy on another call.
“My biggest concern is if we have a major crash in Tres Piedras or Peñasco. People could die waiting,” Gonzales said. “PHI was also the only helicopter service that carried blood on every flight for patients. We’re going to miss that.”
And the likelihood of medical helicopters getting tied up when a call comes in is pretty good. PHI has just one helicopter for each of its now two bases in Grants and Albuquerque.
According to Medina and records obtained from Holy Cross planning director Marilyn Perryman, medical helicopters like PHI are used just for facility transfers from Holy Cross at a rate of 10-12 times a month.
Medina said his helicopter used to fly in Taos at least 30 times a month, a number Holy Cross confirms. In 2009, which had similar numbers, that was 362 people a year.
“If the other service is busy, it could delay somebody’s treatment for hours on end,” Medina said. “We also often have two or three helicopters on any one scene because of the number of injured. The potential fact is that it won’t be available.”
Gonzales says his department probably uses a medical helicopter about two-three times every week.
Officials with PHI told The Taos News the company was “by no means abandoning the communities of Northern New Mexico” in the decision, but rather were confident they could continue to adequately serve the northern communities with a fixed-wing airplane ambulance service and with two remaining helicopters based in Albuquerque and Grants. PHI says the planes can go greater distances faster than helicopters.
The problem, though, is that while medical planes may be more cost effective for PHI, for paramedics and first responders, they’re not ideal.
Whereas a helicopter can land near a scene, fixed wings must land at the airport. That means a patient must then be transported via ambulance to Holy Cross, where they may need to be transferred to UNM Hospital or elsewhere — a process that takes valuable time.
“With a fixed wing, it takes more time to get activated and the crew to get situated,” Gonzales said. “With a helicopter, they can land anywhere it’s flat at a scene and take someone directly from the scene.”
Other than the potential for a more difficult job ahead, local medical professionals would have liked to know the cut was coming sooner.
“They didn’t inform any of us. It was all done immediately one morning,” Gonzales said. “They said, ‘We’re still available, but it could take us an additional 30 minutes.’ That’s what upset me the most.”
Copyright 2010 The Taos News