center and designated critical-access hospital for initial emergency care located within La Grande, it provides patients with evaluation, stabilization, and advanced-trauma life support services prior to transport to a center offering more-advanced care (trauma centers range from Level I, which provides the highest level of care, to Level V). A quick look at the map demonstrates the La Grande
community’s need for helicopter air ambulance services. Te next-highest-level trauma centers, both Level III, are 42 miles northwest in Pendleton, Oregon, and 50 miles north in Walla Walla, Washington. Te closest Level II is 129 miles southeast in Boise, Idaho, while the closest Level I trauma centers are more than 195 miles to the west, across the Cascade Mountains in Portland, Oregon. To meet the need for faster access to higher-level care,
Life Flight Network began serving La Grande in 2011 as the region’s first HAA operator. Fixed-wing operator AirLink Critical Care Transport had previously operated out of the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport (KPDT), 7 miles south of the hospital. Grande Ronde Hospital supported the new air ambulance provider by constructing a $1.2 million helipad at the hospital in 2012, increasing immediate access to the facility for airlifted patients. Te results were immediately evident. “When you choose to live in a rural community, you accept
that specialized services available in larger communities are not as quickly available to you,” says April Brock, emergency
department manager at Grande Ronde Hospital. “Having Life Flight Network allows us to get people in our community to that care. Since the service started, we’re seeing patients getting to the lifesaving interventions they need, whether that be here or at a higher-level-of-care facility, in a more timely fashion.”
Community-Based HAA Transport Based in Aurora, Oregon, Life Flight Network operates more than 25 bases across the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West regions, mainly supporting, with 33 helicopters and 9 airplanes, small communities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Te air ambulance operator employs approx- imately 650 people, including all clinical and aviation teams, providing a complete HAA solution to communities. It’s accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems and the HAI Accreditation Program of Safety for helicopter air ambulance operations. Life Flight Network began operating out of Portland’s
Legacy Emanuel Hospital in 1978, often flying out to rural areas. From this experience grew a new idea: the community- based HAA program. Placing bases in remote areas rather than urban centers improved response times and made maximum use of the Golden Hour. “We realized the value of having critical-care transport
directly in rural areas,” says Peter Benjamin, Life Flight Network customer service manager. “By placing the aircraft
Life Flight Network flight nurse Justin Jackson checks equipment after a flight.
2020 Q3 ROTOR 41
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