By Joshua Norman
The Sun Herald
Copyright 2007 The Sun Herald
BILOXI, Miss. — On June 30, FEMA stopped providing $421,000 a month for a medical rescue helicopter that had been stationed in South Mississippi since shortly after Hurricane Katrina.
There was no medical helicopter permanently stationed here before Hurricane Katrina, and there will not be one for the near future.
A rescue helicopter would probably be beneficial for only a few people a few times a month, medical officials said in interviews last week, but it is an irreplaceable and substantial benefit.
FEMA had provided money for a rescue helicopter because of the downed Bay St. Louis and Biloxi bridges, and a sudden drain of surgical specialists in Coast emergency rooms after Katrina often made the need for quick long-distance transport crucial for many patients’ survival.
“The need seems to have been met and now that the (Bay) bridge has returned into operation, that delay in getting to a hospital is not as keen an issue,” said Eugene Brezany, FEMA spokesman.
Before the hurricane, the need for a rescue chopper did not outweigh the difficulty in maintaining one, and the cost has largely prevented proposals from getting off the ground, said medical professionals.
“That’s been thrown around a lot over the years,” said Gail Thomas, administrator for the Coastal Trauma Care Region, which helps coordinate emergency care on the Coast. “Lots of questions around it.”
While many Coast emergency rooms have almost gotten back up to pre-storm levels of care, none are capable of handling the severest of emergencies and there is also no burn center in the entire state.
There are rescue choppers in Hattiesburg, Mobile, and Abita Springs, La., that can and do service patients in need on the Mississippi Coast.
Still, time is lost in getting helicopters to come from elsewhere, and it can take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes before the closest helicopter can arrive from their current locations, said Thomas Blakeney, operations manager for American Medical Response, the ambulance service covering Harrison and Hancock counties.
Jimmy Phares, director of the regional Acadian Ambulance operation, which covers Jackson County, said they use out-of-state rescue helicopters about six times a month.
Blakeney said the FEMA-provided helicopter service was used about 18 to 20 times a month and 95 percent of those flights were for direct rescue, as opposed to hospital-to-hospital transfers.
However, with the improvement in emergency care, Blakeney said he believes the need for a local rescue chopper has greatly diminished.
“We’re real fortunate in our area because our hospitals are so close by,” said Blakeney, adding that local needs are very different from, say, the Delta’s needs. “Even in most remote areas of Harrison and Hancock you’re talking about a 15- to 20-minute ride max to the closest hospital.”
Rescue helicopters also pose many challenges.
“It takes some time for a helicopter to get off the ground,” Blakeney said. “It’s not like sticking a key in an ambulance. A helicopter is more susceptible to weather. This particular area is particularly challenging for helicopters because of the fog that comes off the Gulf and the clouds are allegedly low.”
The helicopters also cost taxpayers quite a bit of money to keep around. At $15,000 a flight and with so many uninsured or underinsured people in the region, the financial burden on the entire Coast community to keep it around could be great.
Still, many rescue helicopters have nurses on board, unlike ambulances. They can also make that “Golden Hour,” when survivability from bad accidents is most likely, seem to last a whole lot longer.
The Coastal Trauma Care Region board of directors meets next month at Memorial Hospital, Thomas said, and the topic of a rescue helicopter will probably be discussed.