Northwest MedStar upgrades airplane fleet
Emergency crew members and a pilot demonstrate how they transport patients on the new airplane.
EPHRATA — Grant County health care providers and emergency workers were invited to take a first hand look at Northwest MedStar’s newest fleet of turbo airplanes Saturday afternoon.
The airplane, known as the Pilatus PC-12/47E, provides critical care injury transportations to patients throughout the region.
The purchase of the three new airplanes add to the fleet of three helicopters and several ambulances MedStar has built for its emergency services transportation system.
Helicopters assist in transporting patients less than 200 miles and can land on hospital rooftop pads.
Airplane transports occur when the transportation distance is more than 200 miles and weather conditions are less than ideal.
MedStar made roughly 350 combined ambulance, airplane and helicopter transportations in Grant County this year, according to organization director Eveline Bisson.
“That’s a lot for a region,” she said.
Firefighters from Adams County Fire District 5, Prosser Fire District 3, Grant County Fire District 3, Soap Lake and Mason County used the airplane tour as part of their safety training during rural fire situations.
“We thought it was a good opportunity to show the guys the plane and incorporate it into our training program,” said Leonard Boche, chief executive officer of Northwest Fire Training Group.
MedStar is a non-profit emergency transportation coordination service of Inland Northwest Health Services (INHS), a five hospital regional network that banded together to share resources to maintain patient care in the midst of higher health care costs.
Providence Sacred Heart of Spokane is part of the INHS network.
Prior to the Pilatus, the organization was using a late 1970s model of the King Air 200 airplane on longer distance transports.
“We could still use the previous airplanes, but it was a matter of efficiency and technology improvements that we started to look at other aircraft options,” said Bisson.
The organization eventually purchased three of the Switzerland-made airplanes based on several key factors, she said.
The loading door, allowing crew members to load and unload patients, is nearly doubled in size.
Critical care specialist Todd Schoenberger said the loading door of the previous model was only roughly 32 inches wide.
“On the old model, we had to go in and out a certain way. It became really hard when crew members had to maneuver themselves around the patient,” he said during the airplane tour.
The cockpit also features room for two patients on transportations.
“There’s a lot more room inside the plane so that we’re not so cramped. We can actually allow equipment related to a patient stay there, rather than having to rearrange items inside the plane to make room for the equipment,” said respiratory specialist Shelly Chandler.
Patients are transported throughout hospitals in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and western Montana on a daily basis, said Chandler.
She has been with MedStar for 14 years.
The Pilatus also costs 40 percent less to maintain than its precursor, according to Bisson. The airplane is a single engine versus the King Air 200 double engine.
The Pilatus also does especially well in the weather climate typical of Eastern Washington geography.
“In this area especially, there’s lots of high mountains we need to be aware of. We wanted to have an aircraft that would meet that profile,” said Bisson. “After we researched, the airplane flew above the rest of the competition.”
Carlos Montiel understands the importance of having an airplane that can handle less than ideal conditions.
“We use the airplane service most in the wintertime,” said Montiel, a doctor at Columbia Basin Hospital.
Two of the Pilatus airplanes are stationed at the Spokane Airport and one airplane is stationed at the Richland Airport, according to Bisson.