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SALT LAKE CITY — Doctors call it the Golden Hour: the narrow window of time between injury and treatment when getting someone to the hospital can mean the difference between life and death. Medical helicopters often play a critical role when the clock is ticking, and Friday, Air-Med showed off the newest addition to its fleet.
AirMed spent two years doing its homework before deciding to buy the helicopter that was unveiled Friday. They say they were looking for an aircraft with a combination of features best suited to the challenging missions they fly, and they believe they found it.
The $7 million price tag may be steep for the newest helicopter on the pad at University Hospital, but AirMed program manager Rob Stantus says it's money well spent.
AirMed spent two years testing several different helicopters before selecting the EuroCopter EC145 — an aircraft capable of reaching some of the state's tallest mountain tops.
"It also incorporates the latest technology, safety-wise and performance-wise, to make sure that not onlu our crews are safe, but our patients are safe," Stantus said.
The EuroCopter's large cabin means paramedics and nurses have more room to work on patients. It allows for additional medical personnel to be on-hand when they're needed.
"For example. we can take a respiratory therapist with us, we can take a neonatal nurse with us or we can take a high-risk O.B. nurse with us, given what a particular mission may be," said Doug Morgan, the chief flight paramedic.
Still, despite all the state-of-the-art features like night-vision and collision avoidance systems, Stantus said AirMed crews won't be changing the safety procedures they've followed for years.
"We're certainly not going to accept missions that we normally wouldn't accept in the first place," he said.
AirMed is already putting miles on the new helicopter. It's been used for a couple of flights from area ski resorts in the past few days.
