West Michigan Air Care Celebrates 20 Years of Service With You

March 21, 2013 marks Air Care’s 20th anniversary and we wish to express our thanks to all healthcare providers in the region for so many years of teamwork and for helping keep us safe. Since our first mission in 1993, we’ve dedicated ourselves to bringing critical care and rapid trauma interventions to patients in Southwest Michigan and Northern Indiana. Along the way, Air Care has won numerous safety awards and also became one of the first programs in the nation to become accredited under the strict standards set by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS.)

At Air Care we are constantly evolving our medical protocols to keep up with evidence-based medicine. Today, every time you call us, Air Care dispatches two Difficult Airway® trained, critical care nurses capable of rapid sequence intubation and minor surgical procedures. What does this mean for YOU?

Community Hospitals: Expert assistance and transfer of STEMI (ST-Elevation MI), stroke, trauma, pediatrics, pulmonary, post-arrest, and septic patients.

These and other unstable patients should ideally be transferred by an experienced critical care nurse team with appropriate medications and equipment. The sending physician is liable for each patient’s well-being during transport to the receiving hospital.

EMS: Faster movement of scene patients to a trauma, stroke, or heart center.

Get us off the ground if the patient meets Tier 1 or Tier 2 trauma criteria … First Responders can launch Air Care, which means Air Care will arrive minutes after Paramedics to secure the airway, give blood, and rapidly transport. To meet STEMI and stroke care guidelines, put Air Care on standby when attending a “stroke” or “chest pain” call. Activate Air Care when a diagnosis is confirmed. Air Care can provide essential treatments while flying these patients directly to a stroke or heart center. STEMIs should be reperfused within 90 minutes from first medical contact (1), according to the new AHA STEMI guidelines, and strokes within 3 hours of symptom onset. Use these times to help guide your decision to drive or fly.

Everyone: Air Care has a commendable record for safety and clinical excellence.

For 20 years, we’ve put safety first, and it shows. We’ve also sought continuous improvement in clinical excellence, because treating acute patients “on the move” requires it. Give emergent patients their best chance: launch the 20-year leader in critical care transport. For a complete listing of patient conditions that require rapid transport by air, go to Air Care’s Fly Guides.

References:
Stroke window: http://my.americanheart.org/professional/General/Expansion-of-the-Time-Window-for-IV-tPA-Treatment-of-Acute-Ischemic-Stroke_UCM_423947_Article.jsp
STEMI window: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthcareResearch/MissionLifelineHomePage/STEMIReferralHospitals/STEMI-Referral-Hospital-Frequently-Asked-Questions_UCM_313633_Article.jsp

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