Heritage Snapshot: Part 100

After several years of experience, the Air Medical Service expanded its capabilities for interstate and transcontinental patient transfers. This called for a fixed-wing, Beechcraft Queen Air. Himself a pilot, Dr. Zirkle reported its capabilities. “It was a great airplane. It was fast. It was powerful. It was big enough. It was a very effective airplane. I really liked that plane…. It flew like a small airliner.” A commercial-rated pilot always flew the Beechcraft. In 1981 the Air Medical Service purchased a Beechcraft King Air. It replaced the Queen Air. John Gibson, Manager of Flight Operations, declared that the King Air was the Mercedes-Benz of executive aircraft. It had short-field take-off and landing capabilities, two big Pratt and Whitney turbo-prop engines with twice as much power as the Queen Air, and it could fly about 270 mph—100 mph faster than its predecessor. Its first long flight was to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, on October 4, 1981 to transport three automobile accident victims. The Air Medical Service transported more than 2,000 patients during its ten-year history. All of this was accomplished without government subsidy or public solicitation. It motivated the County of San Bernardino Sheriff’s Aviation Division to expand its services to include air rescue. John Gibson, one of its pilots for ten years, transported “dozens and dozens” of patients to LLUMC. “I felt that when I took a patient to Loma Linda I had done the best thing possible for that person,” he said. Loma Linda University Medical Center’s Air Medical Service was the first hospital-owned and operated helicopter ambulance service in the nation. During its period of service it operated five helicopters: a French-built Allouette III (for the feasibility study), three Sikorsky S-55s, and a French-built A-Star. The helicopters were especially useful for transporting patients from the mountains and deserts of the Medical Center’s vast four-county service area. Nurse Dawn Curtis, RN, remembered a time when a referring physician told her he didn’t think the patient would survive the flight. “It made me pull all the harder,” Dawn recalled. “And the patient survived.” The Medical Center now receives between 1,000 and 1,600 helicopter landings a year—as many as fourteen flights a day. The two heliports at Loma Linda University Medical Center receive more air traffic than do many small airports in the United States. Sometimes when both heliports are busy, a third helicopter has to circle the Medical Center briefly until one of the heliports is free. Loma Linda’s means of outreach developed a great variety of outlets—many changes and huge growth. On June 2, 1980, the Inland Counties Emergency Medical Authority (ICEMA) named Loma Linda University Medical Center the only state-designated, Level 1, regional trauma center for the four Inland Counties of Southern California. To this day, LLUMC provides the highest level of care available to patients in San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo, and Mono Counties, an area encompassing 40,000 square miles (more than one-fourth of the State of California). To improve the trauma response capabilities in the four counties, ICEMA pooled the talents of many healthcare professions. Basing their proposal on national trends, they invited a small group of physicians with expertise in trauma care. Coming in from outside the region they made on-site visits to the various hospitals in the region and made recommendations. A trauma team located within the hospital and available 24-hours-a-day, became the most important criteria for the designation. According to Ted Mackett, MD (LLUMC Representative to ICEMA), “Patients died unnecessarily because facilities couldn’t manage the injury or because the patients were cared for by persons in the field who didn’t recognize the extent of the injury.” The four counties include mountains and vast deserts, a diverse terrain supporting many sports activities. Also, because the area is a corridor from the West Coast to eastern attractions, its potential for fatal traffic accidents at one time was three times greater than the national average. By definition a Level 1, Regional Trauma Center accepts patients regardless of their ability to pay. Although this service can be a potential disadvantage, it is in harmony with the missionary endeavors of the University. It also exposes students and resident physicians to a vast spectrum of patients and their injuries.