Bookmark and Share
Print This Page
Last updated: 09-29-2009
A A A A
MedSTAR Transport 20th Anniversary
August 18, 2003

WASHINGTON HOSPITAL CENTER'S MedSTAR MEDICAL EMERGENCY AND TRAUMA HELICOPTER SERVICE MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY ON JULY 2, 2003

Nearly 40,000 Patients Transported by MedSTAR Fleet during Past Two Decades


WASHINGTON, D.C., June 23, 2003 - A tradition of service and medical excellence was born July 3, 1983 when the first MedSTAR Transport helicopter left Washington Hospital Center to retrieve a patient from Prince William County, Va., Hospital who had suffered a spinal-cord injury.

Since that first flight, nearly 40,000 patients have been transported by the MedSTAR, or Medical Shock-Trauma Acute Resuscitation, fleet, the first-of-its-kind locally based critical care aeromedical service in the Washington area. The BK-117 helicopter that made the inaugural flight was the first utilized for emergency medical services in the country and was also the first of its kind to be used in North America. A second air ambulance was added in 1988. The fleet now consists of three EC-135 ships that are based at three Maryland locations - Charles County, Frederick County and Talbot County - to improve response times to remote locations. MedSTAR Transport also has a BK-117 copter that is housed at the service's communications and maintenance facilities at Tipton Airport at Fort Meade, Md. The service grew from 1,283 annual patient transports in FY 1988 to 3,200 in FY 2003.

'MedSTAR filled a need bringing emergency and critical care medical services to places of greatest need,' said Ed Rupert, RN, the service's transport director. 'We can significantly reduce response times of a land-based transport, like an ambulance. It is the fastest and most efficient means to treat or transport people who have been seriously injured by providing the same services they would receive in a hospital trauma unit. We provide coverage from West Virginia to New Jersey to Pennsylvania to central Virginia.'

The EC-135's have a cruising speed of 140 knots and a range of 180 miles with a normal fuel supply. The EC-135's also are certified for instrument flight in inclement weather by using global positioning system (GPS) technology, while the BK-117 is limited to visual flight rules (VFR) conditions. MedSTAR Transport pilots average more than 5,000 flight hours and have extensive emergency medical services training.

Ninety-two percent of MedSTAR flights involve transporting critically injured or critically ill patients between hospitals. Approximately eight percent of responses are for serious vehicular accidents.

'This is the easiest thing we do. It's all about speed. There is a window called `the golden hour' for such cases where the faster the patient can be stabilized and brought to an acute care facility for treatment the better the results usually are,' said Rupert.

MedSTAR Transport provides a full range of critical care and general patient services. The standard flight crew includes a pilot, a critical-care nurse and a critical-care paramedic. Additional crew - including a physician and a respiratory therapist - can be added as needed. The service also provides transport coordination for patients who are being transferred to Washington Hospital Center who do not require critical care.

A MedSTAR Transport crew including pilot Ted Chittick, flight paramedic Barbara Brown and flight nurse Tammi Royce was among the first responders to the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. MedSTAR Transport flew four of the ten burn patients who were brought to the Hospital Center following the attack on the Pentagon.

'What we did on Sept. 11 is what we do every day. We got worldwide attention for doing the same thing we do every day. We took the same risks that we do every day. We are here when we are needed,' said Rupert.

Back
110 Irving Street, NW · Washington, DC 20010 · Washington Hospital Center · (202) 877-7000