MSP Aviation transports 100,000th patient
On Wednesday April 2, 2003
CFCRS volunteers responded to Louise Court in Valley View for the report of a
subject
struck by an automobile.
The patient, a 4-year-old girl, was flown by the Maryland State Police medevac to the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Center in stable condition. The flight was a milestone for the State Police Aviation Division -- its 100,000th patient transported.
The Aviation Division has served the citizens of Maryland and its visitors since its inception in 1961. The Division was created to provide airborne law enforcement and aerial search and rescue support for the Maryland State Police and other allied law enforcement agencies in Maryland. Since then their mission has expanded. They changed the face of Emergency Medical Services when they completed the first civilian medevac in the country in 1970.
On March 18, 1970, the Maryland State Police (MSP) Aviation Division placed its first “Med-Evac Section” into service. On March 19th, during the second day of operation, “Helicopter 108,” a newly acquired Bell 206B helicopter, responded to the scene of a motor vehicle accident on Interstate 695. The crew arrived at the scene and safely transported the patient to the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center. Dr. R. Adams Cowley’s “Golden Hour” concept, which recognized the need for trauma victims to receive medical care at a trauma center within the first hour of injury, was now a reality and the role of the airborne ambulance in America was born.
Much has changed during the 32 years that followed. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) within Maryland continues to meet the growing and ever changing needs of the state and country. The MSP Aviation Division has also evolved from those pioneer days to become an EMS Med-Evac model that others study and attempt to emulate.
The fleet has 12 American EuroCopter Dauphins that are dispatched from eight locations around the state. Each helicopter is equipped with twin gas turbine engines, full Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) capability, Global Positioning System (GPS), a state-of-the-art medical interior, F.L.I.R. (Forward Looking Infra Red) and a NightSun Searchlight.
Each year they transport over 5,000 critically injured and ill patients to area trauma centers throughout Maryland. The State Police medevac program is known as one of the safest. There have been no accidents since a Bell Ranger helicopter crashed in 1986, killing both troopers on board.
Today they provide the finest aero medical, search & rescue and airborne law enforcement services available anywhere in the world and take pride in the fact that they are still the best at what they set out to do. They are consistently the busiest public safety Medevac service in the world.
"The Community Fire Company of Rising Sun, Inc. is proud of their relationship with the Aviation Division and congratulate them on their remarkable achievement," said EMS Chief Loren Anderson. "We are pleased to be part of this milestone event and look forward to continuing to work with them to provide vital emergency medical care to our community."
CFCRS - April 04, 2003
(information & photos obtained from the MSP Aviation website)