Ambulance offers life support that fire helicopter cannot

Question: I read this article (808ne.ws/413sty) and wondered why the emergency medical helicopters don’t transport the injured directly to The Queen’s Medical Center. It’s obvious that this adds perilous time to an already life-threatening situation, and going through the mountain roads and Honolulu traffic, people are sure to die. Can you explain if and why this is a standard operating procedure?

Answer: The news story you cited was about a woman who died April 13 after falling about 50 feet from Luakaha Falls Trail in Nuuanu. A Honolulu Fire Department helicopter airlifted the victim to an ambulance waiting at a nearby landing zone. Paramedics with the city’s Emergency Medical Services treated the victim on the way to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The victim had no pulse, was not breathing and was unconscious when HFD personnel reached her at the waterfall, the story said, so it seems unlikely that the transport factored in the outcome. Nonetheless, we followed up with HFD and EMS to ask about standard operating procedures.

Fire Capt. David Jenkins, an HFD spokesman, and Shayne Enright, an EMS spokeswoman, explained why the air-land combination is typical for 911 calls requiring a helicopter response.

“During mountain rescue operations the Honolulu Fire Department’s incident commander will determine the best operational tactic to transport the patient to advanced life support (ALS) as quickly as possible. Emergency Medical Services personnel positioned at the nearby landing zone will be the quickest source of ALS,” said Jenkins.

All EMS ambulances are designated as advanced life-support units and are staffed by at least one paramedic, trained to perform invasive medical techniques. EMS paramedics, also known as mobile intensive care technicians, have more extensive medical training than HFD first-responders, who generally are trained in basic life support.

“Honolulu Emergency Medical Services paramedics evaluate and provide advanced emergency medical treatment to stabilize patients for transportation to the hospital. Critically ill or injured patients may not survive without advanced procedures that can only be provided by paramedics until the patient reaches the hospital,” Enright said.

While HFD’s two helicopters are designed to be nimble for use as firefighting, rescue and recovery aircraft, they are not fully equipped air ambulances meant for the transportation and treatment of prone patients, as your question implied.

At least one private air-ambulance company does operate in Hawaii, but it is not a first responder to 911 calls, which are dispatched to the county fire, police or EMS departments.

Last, we checked with Queen’s and learned from spokesman Cedric Yama­naka that the hospital has agreements with the military and Hawaii Life Flight (a private company) to land on its helipad. “If there is interest from other agencies in utilizing the helipad, they are welcome to contact our security department,” he said.

Auwe

Auwe to the driver of a dark sedan going the wrong way in the parking lanes of Windward Mall on April 18. In his rush to find a parking space, this driver almost hit a pedestrian. — M.S.

Mahalo

A big mahalo to Access Information Protection, Aiea Boy Scout Troop 488 and AARP volunteers for keeping people safe from identity theft and collecting food for food banks on three islands. This year’s post-tax-time shredding event helped 1,556 people shred 28 tons of paper with sensitive information. We also collected $2,410 in donations to Oahu, Maui and Big Island food banks and donated 2,484 pounds of food. Access Corp. has donated its serv­ices for the past 11 years to help the community. — Jackie Boland, AARP

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.