List Archives

Tue Oct 28 17:49:31 GMT 2003

Yahoo maps shows Richmond to be 18 minutes drive time from Highland. Why
fly? Prime shooting time is not prime traffic time (not everyone follows
the rules).

Tim Noonan.

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 20:27:02 -0700, "Nick Nudell"
<paramednick at comcast.net> said:
> Be aware that I did not mean ALL transports can be 10-15 by ground,
> that is flight time.
>
> We receive a fair number of GSWs and other penetrating trauma from a
> certain urban 'suburb' (Richmond) of Oakland, usually by air. The
> medics who have transported Code 3 tell me it is a 28 minute drive much
> of the time but not always. I have seen 20 minute differences during
> drive time, between multiple casualty patients arriving by air and
> ground from other locations where I know it would take me in my
> personal car an hour to drive during traffic. It is hard to determine
> the cause of the 20 minute difference, info regarding actual dispatch
> times and scene depart times is hard to come by. A city in another
> county is much quicker by air (Vallejo), probably 20 minutes difference
> each time.
>
> The question becomes, does that 20 minutes justify the expense and
> resource allocation? All I can say is that very very few of our trauma
> activations are 'rushed' to the OR, many if not most spend not less
> then one hour and at times up to 6+ hours in the trauma room before
> admission (after all labs, CT, x-ray, plastic consult, ortho consult,
> etc). I do not have access to any data regarding those requiring urgent
> surgery but can count them on one hand over the past 6 months I have
> worked in this facility, where I was on shift.
>
> Interestingly, Alameda County does not have Air EMS, with only two
> receiving facilities for flight, a Level II and regional
> Children's Level
> 1. The primary knife and gun club facility, Highland a Level I County
>    hospital, does not have a helipad. The folks in Western Alameda
>    County are transported by ground, every time.
>
> In any case, some of our medics have come to realize that most of the
> time there is little benefit to flying trauma patients, over driving
> them, and they will cancel flight; so they tell me.
>
> Thanks Nick "There goes my 911 flight career" Nudell
>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________
> Nick Nudell, NREMT-P, CCEMT-P California
> nudell at prehospitalperspective.net
>
> "Perception is reality" - Wise Old Paramedic
>
>
>
>
>   ----- Original Message ----- From: KMATTOX at aol.com To: trauma-
>   list at trauma.org Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2003 8:00 PM Subject: Bay
>   Area helicopter transport
>
>
>   Nick:  Thank you.  You have documented to the world why the bay area
>   of California does NOT need a helicopter program.   10-15 minute
>   transport times!   Massive cost over runs which are undoubtedly
>   passed on to the California public, taxpayers, and insurance
>   carriers.  No wonder there  was a recall of a governor for state
>   budget deficits.
>
>   k
>
>

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