By Chris Roberts
El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas — Adults suffering from heart attacks or strokes and low-birth-weight babies struggling to survive in the region’s far flung rural areas will have access to medical specialists with the Sierra Providence Health Network and other El Paso medical facilities.
On Monday, in the midst of a wind storm, network officials stood on a helipad atop Sierra Medical Center to announce a new $2 million medical air transport program. A helicopter designed as a flying intensive-care unit will have a range of about 150 miles, officials said, which includes Silver City, Ruidoso and Truth or Consequences.
“In minutes, they will be skids off the helipad and en route to save someone’s life,” said Marvin McLellan, the project manager.
And today, Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare is scheduled to open its new helipad at the Del Sol Medical Center. The hospital also plans to contract helicopter services in the future.
“It will raise patient services to greater heights for those in the region,” said John Harris, Sierra Providence Health Network president.
A pilot, medical crew and helicopter will be on-call around the clock at Sierra Medical Center, Harris said. The helicopter also will deliver patients to other hospitals when appropriate, officials said.
With its night vision capabilities, the helicopter also can respond to accident scenes on long, lonely stretches of highway in West Texas and elsewhere, said Joel Hochhalter, vice president for business operations with Omniflight, a Texas company that will operate the aircraft.
“There are certain cases where people need speed,” he said.
The aircraft will carry blood, medication for stroke and heart attack, heart rhythm monitors and other specialized gear loaded for a particular emergency.
Del Sol’s operation will provide similar services, said Bert Corbell, the medical center’s administrative director of trauma services. Military, police, U.S. Border Patrol and others will be able to use the helipad, she said.
Quick response can mean the difference between being able to go home and resume a normal life or “sitting on the porch and watching life go by,” Corbell said.
And area hospitals will work together to ensure patients get the appropriate treatment, said Rob Campion, Del Sol’s flight program director.
In 2005, El Paso lost an Army Med Evac operation that served civilians in the region when those teams were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. The program provided training for soldiers.
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