Somebody Call An Air Ambulance! Why This Isn't A Futuristic Command?

If you recently heard someone yell for an air ambulance, you might think you are in the wrong time and place. After all, the only ambulances you know of are those that travel on the ground. So, how could there be an air ambulance? Actually, this is not a futuristic concept or command, and it does not require a flying bus, flying van, or flying automobile.

What an Air Ambulance IS

If you ponder it long enough, you may eventually figure it out. An air ambulance is a helicopter or a small plane that is able to fly from the helipad at one hospital or a nearby airport to the hospital that has the special equipment needed to save a patient's life. If you have heard someone recently call for an air ambulance, it means that the patient is in seriously bad shape and needs to be air-lifted to a better-equipped trauma unit at another hospital farther away.

Why Many Hospitals Now Have Their Own Air Ambulance

Either a hospital is a top-notch trauma facility or it flies patients to a top-notch trauma facility. Either way, most hospitals now recognize the need to get certain patients to specialists as quickly as possible. If the EMTs were to try to make this trip over the ground in a traditional ambulance, the patient could die. This is why so many hospitals now each have their own helipad and helicopter for transport of patients by air.

As for planes that transport patients, these are just as vital. Patients in rural areas far from a hospital or patients who need extremely gentle transport ride in planes. These planes are equipped with special equipment that prevents bumping and jostling in flight and keeps patients perfectly still so that they can make it to the hospital or trauma center.

Children and Air Ambulance Rides

Children are common passengers in air ambulances, not because of injury, but because of illness. The helicopter is able to rush a child at one-and-one-half times the speed of a ground ambulance in a straight direction to the nearest children's hospital. There, the children receive extremely high-quality care to preserve their lives.

The Second Most Common Passengers

The contest for the second most common type of passenger in an air ambulance is a tie between critical heart patients and extreme head/body trauma patients. Both would not be able to survive a ride on the ground. Therefore, the care team would shout for an air ambulance.


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