Criteria for Air Evacuation of Patients

Note – while putting an helicopter on standby can be done based on mechanism of injury, bring the helicopter to the scene requires evaluation of the patient and comparison the following criteria. The helicopters can be turned around at anytime prior to patient contact without fees to the patient or reprocussions.

1. Max weight 350lbs, max height: unknown, 6’5” permitted
2. Single Patient Criteria – Medical
   1. Stroke (meets stroke screening criteria and witness within 30 minutes)
   2. STEMI (ST-Elevated Myocardial Infarction – requires 12-lead interpretation)
   3. Pre-term Labor
   4. Shock due to medical condition
3. Single Patient Criteria – Trauma
   1. Signs/Symptoms of shock (hypotension, tachycardia, GCS < 13)
   2. Unstable multisystem trauma
   3. Trauma plus …
      1. Pregnancy
      2. Pediatric trauma < 12 years old (real injuries, not just “rule out”)
      3. Geriatric trauma > 55 year
      4. Cardiac event
   4. Thorasic trauma
      1. Blunt or
      2. Penetrating
   5. Penetrating trauma to
      1. Head
      2. Chest
      3. Abdomen
      4. Major artery
4. 2+ long bone fractures
5. Burns meeting following criteria
   1. 1. Burns > 15% body area
      2. Any circumferential burns to chest or limb
      3. Burns involving airway
      4. Burns involving genitalia or hands
6. Spinal cord trauma
7. Limb paralysis
8. Pelvic Injury & trending towards unstable
9. Head Injury with GCS < 13
10. Multi-patient Trauma
    1. Bring 1 helicopter per patient that meets the above criteria for a scene with multiple patients
    2. If the scene involves a large number of patients, use helicopters to distribute the more critical patients to trauma centers away from the 3 community hospitals that service our area.

Hazardous Material
The air ambulances have no hazmat equipment. All patients must be completely decontaminated prior to packaging for air transport.