Thursday, September
5, 2002
Abilene hospitals fill void
in air-ambulance service
By Brian Bethel
Reporter-News Staff Writer
New Mexico-based Southwest Air Ambulance
Service will handle emergency transportation for both of Abilene’s
hospitals, filling a months-long gap in helicopter services.
Headquartered in Las Cruces, N.M., Southwest
Air also has presences in Roswell, N.M.; Carlsbad, N.M.; and Midland.
The decision will be announced formally today, said Harold Siglar,
chief executive officer of Abilene Regional Medical Center.
Southwest will fill a void left by Omniflight
Helicopters’ departure from Abilene.
“We looked at several potential services,
any of which would have been a good choice,” Siglar said.
“But we felt that Southwest represented the best fit for
this area.”
Southwest Air Ambulance is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week
emergency and nonemergency critical care/specialty transport service.
The company provides short-, medium- and long-range medical transports
to the public by operating helicopters and airplanes.
Hendrick Health System and ARMC seriously
considered at least three air ambulance services, Siglar said.
Among companies expressing interest in providing local service
were Critical Air based in California, and Shannon Medical Center’s
air ambulance service based in San Angelo.
Other area hospitals have been examining
or have added air ambulance services.
Critical Air is slated to begin air ambulance
services in Stamford by midmonth. The company began serving Brownwood
Regional Medical Center in July.
Critical Air has been talking with Sweetwater’s
Rolling Plains Hospital about the possibility of starting a third
area location. Rolling Plains administrator Tom Kennedy said his
facility would gladly use Southwest Air’s services if “it
would help make the service more viable for all parties.”
Omniflight Helicopters’ decision to
leave Abilene in late May was blamed on financial woes, including
increased aviation liability insurance costs. The company’s
local Life Star service averaged about 40 patient flights a month.
Even without local service, a variety of
air transport options remained available, including flights from
Lubbock and San Angelo.
“There was a lot of excitement about
the helicopter services in the beginning, but I know from our
perspective it hasn’t made much of a difference in service
delivery in the months we’ve been without,” Siglar said.
At the time of Omniflight’s closure,
officials at both hospitals said ground ambulance coverage within
40 miles of each hospital was generally as fast as air transport.
In June 2000, Hendrick grounded its own
air ambulance program, FirstFlight, citing financial concerns.
The FirstFlight helicopter cost approximately $2 million a year
to operate and was generating revenue of about $1 million.
Contact wellness writer Brian
Bethel at 676-6739 or bethelb@reporternews.com
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