Helicopter Ambulance: Advantages & Contexts of Use
While Bluedot Air Ambulance primarily provides jet-based medevac services, some situations call for the specialist use of helicopter-based emergency medical services (HEMS). Particularly in the Middle East, offshore oil rigs are a common area of use of helicopters for medical emergencies.
Helicopter air ambulances provide an additional layer of care for the most critically ill patients suffering medical emergencies, such as cardiac arrests, severe asthma attacks, or allergic reactions, as well as injuries caused by road traffic accidents or falls or worksite injuries where better medical care is farther away but road-ambulances are not accessible or quick enough due to geographic conditions.
Unlike jets, helicopters need very little space to land or take off. They are also very nimble in their handling and can fly through challenging terrain, very close to land or sea. Their response times are also faster owing to which they can be quickly called in from standby to operate. For short-distance emergencies, helicopters are a good choice.
The advantages of air ambulance evacuation by helicopters include shorter prehospital time, delivering victims from hard-to-reach areas directly to high-level trauma centers, and provision of extended prehospital care by highly qualified air medical teams.
The effectiveness of the use of air ambulance helicopters depends on weather factors. For example, helicopters are susceptible to heavy weather conditions such as strong winds or heavy snowfall. Tangled wires, high-rises, trees, mountains, and other geographic factors also pose challenges for helicopters. Nevertheless, they manage to do what neither jets nor land ambulances can do.
Sometimes helicopter and jet ambulances work together to complete a mission. For instance, HEMS covers the first leg of the transfer from the site to trauma centre. Thereafter, for longer-term care or repatriation, an air ambulance jet may be deployed to take the patient to their home country or advanced hospital.
Helicopters are also used to transfer patients from one hospital to another in the same city, bypassing heavy traffic. They can also be used for emergency organ transplants or the transfer of specialist medical equipment safely and quickly within a country or city.
To know more about Helicopter Ambulances, feel free to chat with us or call us on: +971 55 188 1441
