UW Med Flight Program Adding 12-Hour Shift

UW Hospital's Med Flight has received between 1,527 and 1,579 requests for services during the past three years. The program is one of the busiest single aircraft services in the country and the first in Wisconsin to require use of two helicopters.

With the number of requests for Med Flight now topping 1,500 a year, the UW Hospital helicopter program has placed its backup helicopter in regular service during peak times of the day.

The change, effective February 1, means that two helicopters, instead of one, will be available to respond to emergencies between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. seven days a week. The main helicopter will be available the remainder of the time.

“There’s no question that Med Flight is meeting a very important need,” says Dr. Glenn Kimmel, the program’s medical director and an emergency medicine physician at UW Hospital and Clinics. “But we’re at a point now where we have to expand the program to accommodate the need.”

Requests for Med Flight have nearly quadrupled since the helicopter program began operating in April 1985. Flight requests totaled 409 in 1985, 1,275 in 1990 and, for the past three years, have been between 1,527 and 1,579. The program, which serves patients within a 225 mile radius of Madison, is one of the busiest single aircraft services in the country and the first in Wisconsin to require use of two helicopters.

As the number of calls for Med Flight has increased, the ability to meet the demand with a single helicopter has been challenged. Since 1995, there has been an average of two or three flight requests per week in which alternative ground or air transportation had to be arranged because Med Flight was responding to another emergency.

By adding staff and making the backup helicopter available for a 12 hour shift, Med Flight will be better able to handle its increasing caseload. Hospital experts estimate that actual flights will increase initially by about three per week.

The change is extremely important to patients as well as to physicians in outlying communities, emergency medical technicians and the other Madison hospitals (Meriter, St. Mary’s and the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital) which rely on Med Flight. Med Flight patients are commonly involved in severe motor vehicle and farm accidents, and also suffer from such life-threatening emergencies as organ failure, heart attacks and severe burns. Many patients, young and old, are in the “golden hour,” the crucial 60 minutes following a critical injury when specialized treatment can make the difference between life and death.

Hospital officials say Med Flight pilots will continue to use flight patterns across Lake Mendota instead of over residential neighborhoods. The expanded shift will also not increase noise during sleeping hours.

The backup Med Flight helicopter will also be available on its off hours if the main helicopter is “down” due to maintenance. Arrangements have been made to ensure helicopter service in the remote case both helicopters require simultaneous maintenance.