New Technologies Enhance Aeromedical Care

After four years of planning, design, development and training, the Alberta Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS) recently flew its first mission with night vision goggle (NVG) technology. This marks the first NVG technology use by a civilian air carrier over Canada. Within a year, STARS expects to carry out flights over mountainous terrain at night that would not have been possible in the past.

Another rural provider, Saint Alphonsus Life Flight, out of Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, ID, also recently purchased night vision goggles, along with an OuterLink automated flight tracking system that helps Life Flight pilots locate landing zones and safely fly to their medical destination, and Pinpoint Technologies dispatch software that tracks flight operations and patient data for each mission and verifies destinations.

"I've always been concerned with enhancing the safety programs of the air medical industry," says Saint Alphonsus Life Flight's program manager and chief flight paramedic, Ken Sheldon, EMT-P, who was instrumental in acquiring the new technologies.

Financing was achieved from fundraising through an extensive hospital membership program and the hospital's strong commitment to the flight program, says Sheldon.

The first phase involved installing the Pinpoint software, which has already improved data collection and is more user-friendly for the medical director and QA team. After working out the normal glitches and making some modifications, that program is up and running. Almost simultaneously, the OuterLink tracking system was installed in each aircraft. The night vision goggles were on order and expected to be installed in the first aircraft in late January.

"All of these are well-known technologies," says Sheldon, "but we believe bringing all three together in rapid succession is unique to our area. This is one of the most demanding places to fly in the country, with rough terrain, lack of weather reporting and huge distances in rural areas, so it's been critical to our success, growth and ability to access patients in the backcountry, even at night."

-MN