Air ambulance saves seconds — and lives

     EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first article in a two-part series about ARCH Air Medical Service.

     When seconds count in life-or-death emergencies, the importance of having state-of-the art air medical service is incalculable.

     "The service ARCH Air Medical Service provides is invaluable," said Julie Smith, director of nursing at Jersey Community Hospital. "And there has not been one patient that has not been appreciative of being flown in an emergency rather than taken by ambulance."

     Most area hospitals and first responders use ARCH to transport critically injured or ill patients to trauma or specialty centers in Missouri.

     The program began as Medical Air Rescue Corps in 1979 and was based at St. Louis University Hospital. In August 1987, it became a not-for-profit consortium sponsored by Barnes Hospital, St. John’s Mercy Medical Center and St. Louis University Hospital, and the name was changed to Area Rescue Consortium of Hospitals -- known as ARCH. In April 2000, Air Methods Corp. of Englewood, Colo., purchased ARCH.

     The success of the consortium is what forced it to expand, then to sell.

     "ARCH became so busy that they realized they needed to expand the consortium," said Matt Kasten, ARCH senior communications manager. "They decided to sell the consortium because it was becoming very costly. A used helicopter cost about $2 million and a new one almost $5 million."

     Today, ARCH is the region’s only nationally accredited air medical program of its kind and has completed more than 36,000 missions. Headquartered in St. Louis, it has a fully computerized dispatch center, the country’s largest single fleet of BK-117 medical helicopters and a federally certified maintenance facility.

     It also has an unsurpassed safety record, Kasten said. Each air medical flight is staffed with qualified registered nurses, paramedics or specialists responding from one of six bases in Warrenton, Mo., Sullivan, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., St. Louis, Sparta, Ill., and Litchfield, Ill.

     "ARCH medical transport has been in business for over 24 years and has been accident-free, which is almost unheard of in air medical services and is a wonderful record we are very proud of, " Kasten said

     He attributes the safety record to the high level of training required for mechanics, technicians and pilots.

     ARCH is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems, a national process that focuses on quality of patient care and safety of transport equipment.

     "Our pilots are the best of the best," Kasten said. "And ARCH is also very unique in that we have flight crews with specialized high-level critical care training."

     Flight teams are a resource for ground paramedics, he said. When crews arrive on a scene, they have the equipment and the professionals necessary for critical care assessment and treatment in flight.

     Whether emergency care is required because of an accident or illness, the need to get speedy specialized care is paramount.

     "We have always had excellent response time from ARCH," said Marilyn Fischer, emergency services manager at Alton Memorial Hospital. "And when you have a critically ill or injured patient, the need to get them to a trauma center in timely fashion is critical. You wouldn’t even consider sending them to St. Louis by ambulance during rush hour."

     Kasten said ARCH’s average response time from St. Louis to Alton is 12 minutes. After receiving a call, a crew is airbound within 5 minutes, 22 seconds.

     "ARCH has a high volume of patients from Alton and Maryville -- Anderson Hospital in Maryville and Saint Anthony’s and Alton Memorial. That is a positive for the Alton area citizens as it shows they receive the best level of care when the area physicians determine it’s a critical care situation."

     ARCH responds to a call from emergency first responders such as EMS personnel, firefighters, law enforcement agencies and hospitals within a 150-mile radius of their bases, but crews only fly when weather conditions permit.

     Kasten and Bob Abrams, ARCH community relations manager, stressed that ARCH works only in conjunction with local hospitals, EMS and fire and police agencies. When called, ARCH aircraft will be en route to the scene, remain on standby or return to base if the referring agency cancels the call. Patients are charged only when actual transpiration is provided.

     "ARCH is called only when our referring professionals deem it necessary," Abrams said. "The cost of each flight varies some dependent upon distance, but the ballpark figure is between $5,000 and $7,000."

     Some insurance companies will cover the cost of such flights, yet others will not, research shows. Be that as it may, most patients are glad to have the resource available.

     "As long as I can remember, we have been using their service," Fischer said. "We have never had a bad comment about ARCH or about bad service. Due to ARCH’s safety record, and seeing the professional level of their medical flight crews, we are comfortable sending our patients with them."

     Smith said Jersey Community Hospital is also confident in ARCH’s capabilities to provide safe transport and critical care emergency treatment.

     "We are a small rural community. There are some things we can’t take care of because we are not a trauma center," Smith said. "By land ambulance, it would take at least 40 minutes to get a patient needing trauma care or perhaps cardiac care to St. Louis, and with ARCH, they can be landing in St. Louis in 12 to 14 minutes. In a motor vehicle accident, or with a pediatric case, ARCH can land right at the scene of an accident. The patient will get to the necessary destination within a few minutes.

     "I can’t say enough about the service ARCH provides," Smith said. "They are very responsive to us; when we call, they come."

     ARCH has not stopped growing apparently. The service, in conjunction with Carle Foundation Hospital, which provides air medical transport in the East Central Illinois region, is soon to have another base in Effingham.

     And in May of this year, ARCH launched the "Kid Copter," a specially designed aircraft that provides transportation for the critical care pediatric and neonatal transport teams in the St. Louis region.

     The specialty aircraft is staffed around the clock by a trained emergency medical service pilot and is available to provide emergency transport for critically ill infants and children within minutes of a call.

     ARCH provides exclusive air medical transport for pediatric and neonatal teams from Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

© The Telegraph 2003

Next article: The people whose lives have been touched speak out

Click here to read next article