Wis. Hospital Touts New Rooftop Helipad

March 11--The helipad high atop Gundersen Health System's new Legacy Building can shave five to 10 minutes off of getting a patient to an emergency or operating room, a hospital official said Monday.

Those minutes can be life-saving in the critical situations the MedLink chopper often is involved in, said Scott Sampey, director of the MedLink air/specialty care transport program at the La Crosse hospital.

Under the previous set-up, the helicopter landed on a ground-level helipad, where paramedics and nurses had to take the patient to an ambulance for a quarter-mile drive to the emergency department, then unload the patient again, Sampey said.

"It wasn't bad, but putting the patient in and out of the ambulance took time," he said.

"What's different now is the helicopter lands on the helipad, they pull the stretcher out and go straight to the elevators and go directly to emergency, or surgery or critical care," he said.

"The new system is more efficient," he said.

Upon notification that a helicopter is en route, security workers take control of the two super-size elevators that are about 30 yards from the eighth-floor helipad, Sampey said.

"Nobody can stop the elevator, and it stays open until the helicopter lands and they take the patient to the floor," he said.

Nurse Terry Dorshorst, who said the new process can save five to 10 minutes, said, "It's quicker, faster and safer for the patients and for ourselves."

Compared with traditional elevators in which emergency workers had to squeeze in around the patient, the new elevators -- Gundersen calls them "mega-vators," allow plenty of elbow room, Dorshorst said.

"You can almost turn the cart around," he said. "That allows us to use monitors and continue to treat the patient."

The helipad, which can accommodate 12,000 pounds, also has the advantage of being above potential obstructions of buildings and wires, said pilot Andy Putnam.

The helipad and its walkway to the elevator tower are heated to keep them free of snow and ice and allow year-round use, Sampey said.

The MedLink helicopter, which carries a paramedic and a nurse in addition to the pilot, makes 500 landings a year at Gundersen, he said. It is akin to an earthbound critical care ambulance, with the same life-saving equipment, such as monitors, ventilators and IV pumps, he said.

Flights can range from trauma cases after crashes to inter-hospital trips in which another facility sends a patient to Gundersen or vice-versa, he said.

The emergency personnel normally wait until the rotors have stopped before unloading a patient, he said.

"But if they bring in a patient (in an extreme emergency) they can pull out the patient with the blades still going to save more time," he said. "It's very safe, and we do it all the time."

If a crash involved multiple victims being brought in on separate helicopters, the helipad on the ground near the hangar still can be used, he said.

"With a couple of patients in a car accident, we would communicate to the ground crew and sort out who is more severe," and that patient would land at the new helipad for faster access, Dorshorst said.

Copyright 2014 - La Crosse Tribune, Wis.