On Wednesday, Aug. 11, a multiple vehicle accident left 10 people injured on the Vespucio Sur highway in Chile, forcing the route to be closed. One of the injured, in serious condition, was transported in a Carabineros helicopter to a medical facility. The others, with injuries of varying degrees of severity, were taken in ambulances amid kilometer-long congestion.
Today, the emergency and aeromedical evacuation industry is expanding worldwide. The pandemic, which has caused hospital facilities to collapse, has also generated a high demand for these services. In addition to this, there is the current urban development, where cities are in a process of permanent growth, which is increasingly faster and poorly planned, showing a disproportion between urban development and the existing roads in the city, affecting the work of emergency vehicles.
“Greater Santiago and some areas of the country, such as Greater Concepción and Greater Valparaíso, are in dire need of aeromedical emergency response. Having adequate helicopters for the transfer from the site of the emergency to the hospital becomes key not only to increase survival, but also to reduce the after-effects if the appropriate treatment is given in time,” said Dr. José Miguel Zavala, specialist in aviation medicine, aeromedical examiner and EVACAM coordinator physician in Carabineros.
HEMS (helicopter emergency medical services) are a variant of emergency medical services in which a helicopter is used to arrive at the emergency site with greater speed. “The main advantage of these aircraft is that they arrive exactly at the site of the emergency regardless of the terrain or access roads, in addition to not requiring a runway, which makes them ideal for this type of situation. In the case of cities with traffic congestion problems such as Santiago, or localities with scarce or limited communication routes, this type of helicopter provides a fast and efficient alternative. On the other hand, the HEMS are equipped with sophisticated medical instruments to stabilize the patient at the scene of the event and during the flight, as well as professional personnel (doctor, nurse and TENS) to attend to any emergency.
During the past year, the company prepared a special capsule for any aircraft in the fleet with all the necessary equipment for the transfer of Covid patients. The aircraft are equipped with first-class medical equipment. In addition to the above, the entire fleet of Ecocopter aircraft has a sanitary resolution issued by the Ministry of Health, a necessary and specific document for this type of activities, in order to provide operational continuity to this relevant activity.
“To perform this type of highly complex transfer, today we have the capacity to use our Airbus AS350 B3/H125, EC135 and H145 helicopters as HEMS, since they have the highest industry standards to perform this type of emergency procedures in a safe, fast and efficient way. One of our main objectives as a company is to offer world class aeromedical alternatives to the State of Chile and the private sector, providing access and bringing the use of helicopters to the public-private system, hospitals, SAMU, clinics, etc. In short, to the entire population, without this representing a higher cost, dispelling the belief that this resource is of high value,” said Díaz.
Globally, helicopters have revolutionized the concept of assisted evacuation, due to the great variety of services they can offer, their main advantages being the possibility of accessing restricted areas, the speed of transfer and the versatility that this type of aircraft provides. However, in Chile there is still an urgent need for more alternatives, such as helicopters, with advanced medical systems and planning a collaborative network of aircraft, which save lives and reduce possible consequences of a late rescue, providing a solution to a problem that remains “in the air”.
This press release was prepared and distributed by Ecocopter.
