Air Ambulance Services

Air ambulance services are used to get emergency medical assistance to injured or ill people where a traditional ambulance can’t get to the scene easily or as quickly as the patient might require. Often medical teams find that air transportation is the most practical method to reach a difficult location or to gain quick access to a hospital where traffic conditions are slow.

Air ambulance crews fly with sophisticated equipment enabling them to provide detailed medical treatment to the patient who may be critically injured or seriously ill. High numbers of air ambulances carry ventilators, medication, ECG monitoring units, CPR equipment and stretchers.

The military pioneered the use of air ambulance services during the First World War and introduced dedicated air ambulances during the Korean War of 1950-1953. Not only did patients get removed from battlefields; they were taken to hospital ships offshore once initial care had been administered.

Civilian air ambulances were introduced initially to match those areas of remote, lightly populated areas where initial lost hours of care led to prolonged suffering and death. Aircraft companies operated as and when required initially, with the first full time operator in the US beginning in 1947. Helicopters have found to be more useful than small airplanes to reach and collect patients in difficult to retrieve locations.

If you’re not covered by insurance, the use of an air ambulance will take $3000 to $5000 from your savings.

Staffing of air ambulance services is by dedicated crew who in addition to their medical training are trained to cope with the various difficult locations and precarious situations they find themselves in. Often an air ambulance flies with paramedics, flight nurses, emergency medical technicians, respiratory therapists and sometimes, a physician who is collected from a hospital.

A large air ambulance services company can include as many as 100 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft based at hospitals, airports and fire stations. It can service dozens of hospitals across the 50 states, with aircraft based at different hospitals and racking up hundreds of thousands of flying hours each year.

The cost of purchasing and operating the aircraft is met in many different ways. Medical insurance companies provide helicopters that be charged out to whoever has a shared use. Some aircraft are purchased by government to provide the service.  Public donations often aid with the purchase of a helicopter to be based at a specific hospital. Occasionally aircraft are donated by business corporations. Medical aid without air ambulance services is now unimaginable.