There has been a new arrangement between the largest healthcare providers in New Hampshire and Vermont. The goal is to provide better helicopter air ambulance service to patients located in Vermont and upstate New York.
Air Ambulance Service Crew to Be Based in Burlington
The deal was signed between officials from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and University of Vermont Health Network. Under this deal, Dartmouth will be in charge of providing the air ambulance and the air crew. This crew will be based out of the Burlington area. University of Vermont Health Network will be responsible for staffing the air ambulance with medical professionals to provide high-quality emergency medical care.
According to the medical officer for the Regional Transport System of UVM Health Network, Ryan Clouser, they are able to cover 40,000 square miles within their service area. This makes it vital for them to ensure that transportation is consistently available for patients who are in need of immediate medical care.
New Agreement to Cover Only Hospital Transfers
As of now, hospitals in the region are mostly reliant on ground ambulances for transporting critical care patients between facilities. Although some patients are already being transported by helicopters, it’s not consistent. The new Burlington-based helicopter air ambulance service will be dedicated to carrying out patient transfers between hospitals. This means that it will not be used for picking up patients at accident scenes.
President of UVM Medical Center, Eileen Whalen has stated that they are working to create a system that’s most convenient for their patients and satisfies their needs the best. UVM covers areas such as Newport in northeastern Vermont to the New York communities of Canton and Massena within their service area. The new helicopter service will become operational from July 2018.
