New helicopters, better service at the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation


Norwegian Air Ambulance Helicopter was the first operator in the world to receive the new five-bladed Airbus H145. Patrick Heinz Photo

Testing onboard CT scanners is only one of the current innovative projects and partnerships of the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. As it boldly states on its website, “we have not reached the finish line” in continuing to improve emergency services for the citizens of Norway and Denmark, all the while inspiring other air ambulance service providers throughout the world to do the same.

With a history stretching back 40 years, this nonprofit organization is now supported by over 300,000 members, both individuals and companies. Its subsidiary Norwegian Air Ambulance Helicopter (NAAH) operates all of the country’s 13 medical helicopter bases on behalf of the state-owned Air Ambulance Services of Norway, and all four medical helibases in Denmark (Danish Air Ambulance) as well.

“We do emergency transport, some search-and-rescue missions, and normal patient transport under contract [from these two entities],” NAAH CEO Leif Olstad told Vertical.

This ownership structure provides NAAH a unique continuing viewpoint of how emergency medical services can be improved — and to test and implement innovations in collaboration with the foundation’s other subsidiary, Norwegian Air Ambulance Technology.

NAAH currently operates 26 helicopters: eight H135s, three EC135s, 11 H145s and two AW139s, including an H145 and an EC135 for sale. The medical interiors are contracted to Aerolite.

Two more, and upgrades

At the end of 2020, NAAH was the very first operator in the world to receive the new five-bladed Airbus H145, which provide less vibration and a smoother ride.

The foundation recently ordered two more five-bladed H145s (part of its normal fleet renewal) but also has plans to upgrade all its other H145s to the five-bladed H145D3. Right now, out of the total 11 H145s, four were delivered as five-bladed, two have been retrofitted to the five-bladed version, and the remaining five are four-bladed.

“The H145D3 … has an increased payload which also gives better endurance and range,” Olstad said. “These are important improvements both for the crew and patient.” The payload has increased by 150 kilograms (330 pounds).

The newest H145 also has a new bearingless main rotor design, further improving maintenance and reliability. It has two Safran Arriel 2E engines, full authority digital engine control, the Helionix digital avionics suite and a four-axis autopilot. Due to its low acoustic footprint, it’s the quietest helicopter in its class. There are more than 1,600 H145 helicopters in service.

Ideal for research

When the foundation bought the first H145 in 2020, secretary general Hans Morten Lossius called it “a game-changer for what we can accomplish, not only in Norway, but also in collaboration with other relevant international partners. As far as we know, it is the only helicopter in the world dedicated to helicopter emergency medical services [HEMS] improvement.”

In close collaboration with Airbus, NAAH has used the helicopter for various research projects with that aim, testing new equipment, collecting data, and so on.

CT project

One of the projects is to install CT scanners in order to better treat stroke patients.

Every year in Norway, there are about 15,000 stroke patients, many of them in rural areas facing a long helicopter (or ground ambulance) ride to the nearest hospital with a CT scanner, the only piece of equipment currently available to determine type and extent of strokes.

First, the project team built a special mobile stroke unit to see if stroke diagnosis and treatment could be done before arriving at the hospital. Since then, they have been working on how best to install a CT scanner into their five-bladed H145 — in particular, CT scanners that use nano technology. It has fewer parts, no moving parts, and weighs much less than conventional units.

Future plans

The foundation is also working with Airbus Helicopters to come up with a concept of operations for HEMS using Airbus’s CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL, when it’s type certified.

The first step toward the creation of a medical eVTOL ecosystem will be the evaluation of the efficiency of the current emergency medical system in Norway, then to simulate different air medical services scenarios, integrating advanced air mobility assets.

Together, Airbus Helicopters and the foundation aims to “drive the definition of the foundational elements of the eVTOL ecosystem in the country, including infrastructure, traffic management and energy sourcing and distribution.”

Olstad described the future implementation of eVTOLs in its healthcare delivery as “a natural development for us.” He said it’s part of both the foundation’s long-term strategies, including its commitment to lessening environmental impact.

“As technology evolves, we believe that eVTOLs can be a useful addition to the ambulance cars, boats and helicopters that we use in our EMS system today,” he said. “We must look into the future and how to run HEMS missions. We’re in this for the patients, while also considering sustainability and economy.”

Speed of response may be better with eVTOLs, he said, in both delivery of medical equipment and personnel to the patient, as well as patient transport.

“Norway consists of both some densely-populated city areas and also larger rural areas with few people but many fjords and islands that complicate EMS logistics,” Olstad explained.

  
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