An air-ambulance service headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., is now executing about 20 percent of its flights from a new base in north Mississippi.

 

Debuting in spring 2008, the Hospital Wing outpost near the campus of Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi is providing a quicker response time for critically injured patients within a 100-mile radius of Oxford.

 

"It makes a tremendous difference for our patients in Oxford, Lafayette County and the surrounding areas," said Don Hutson, CEO and administrator of Baptist-North Mississippi.

 

In the cases of Level I or II trauma patients, the ability to whisk patients away to a facility better equipped to provide lifesaving care is critical, Hutson said.

 

"It ensures that those patients who have medical needs that exceed our capabilities can, once they're stabilized, be quickly moved to the facility that will best meet their needs," he said.

 

The 23-year-old Hospital Wing nonprofit service operates through an alliance with Memphis-based hospitals including Methodist-LeBonheur Healthcare and Regional Medical Center, as well as St. Francis and Crittenden Memorial hospitals.

 

In addition, the Memphis-based Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. — of which Baptist-North Mississippi is a part — has been among major players in Hospital Wing's development and support since its inception, said Chief Flight Nurse Debra Barnes, RN, MSN.

 

"When you're looking at developing an outpost, a lot of variables go into that," she said. "We wanted to move into north Mississippi and were able to get a lot of help from Baptist in developing the site at Oxford."

 

The hospital worked with Hospital Wing to establish a hangar and landing base across the street from the hospital's main campus. It is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a pilot and two-person medical crew — either a flight nurse and flight paramedic, or a pair of flight nurses. A total of seven medical crew members and four pilots are now employed by Hospital Wing in Oxford.

 

From that base, the service reaches into more than a dozen surrounding Mississippi counties, with a radius extending north to Holly Springs, east to New Albany, West to Marks and south to Grenada.

 

In addition to transporting patients to hospitals in the Memphis area from the Oxford base, Hospital Wing also makes transfers to hospitals in Tupelo and Jackson, Barnes said.

 

The service operates a third base in Brownsville, Tenn. The crews operate a total of four Eurocopter Astar AS350B3 helicopters, equipped with satellite tracking systems, XM satellite weather and auto-pilot capabilities. Each is configured to carry a three-member flight crew and one patient.

 

Across its system, "The Wing" transports an average of 150 patients per month, with 60 percent of those being trauma-related. That includes some 35 percent of flights in which the helicopter responds to the scene of an accident or injury. Since its inception in 1986, Hospital Wing has flown more than 30,000 accident-free missions.

 

Among the factors that can prompt a call for the service include severe injuries such as penetrating trauma to the body's core or head, an injury to the spinal cord or spinal column, or a partial or total amputation of an extremity. Hospital Wing is also called for patients who've been involved in vehicle-rollover wrecks while not wearing seatbelts, for motorcycle-wreck victims and for pedestrians struck by vehicles.

 

Because the expense of medical transport flights can leave patients owing thousands of dollars — even after insurance pays — Hospital Wing's membership option is something Hutson has been recommending. He and other senior hospital leaders are among those who've led the way by signing up themselves, paying $50 per year as individuals or $60 for a family.

 

"I think it's a great service," he said. "If you subscribe to the service and need to be transported, they will accept your insurance payment as payment in full."