Editor’s note: Includes quotes from IHA’s acute area director for the Kootenay Boundary and the unit chief for Grand Forks Ambulance Services
The Interior Health Authority (IHA) has announced that Grand Forks’ Boundary Hospital will have a heliport built.
Boundary-Similkameen MLA John Slater, IHA Board Chair Norman Embree and CEO Dr. Robert Halpenny made the announcement on May 23.
The heliport is projected to be complete by the spring of 2013.
IHA said that the new heliport would be utilized by the Kamloops-based dedicated emergency helicopter BC Ambulance Services to serve B.C. Southern Interior residents.
It also said that the heliport will assist in quicker response times for emergencies and a request for proposals (RFP) was issued for the planning and design of the heliport.
“Planning and design work is expected to get underway later this year, bringing the heliport that much closer to reality,” said Embree in a release.
Ingrid Hampf, IHA Acute Area Director Kootenay Boundary, noted that the heliport would be a great benefit for critical patients.
“We won’t have to transfer them from the hospital, via ambulance, to the airport then into the helicopter,” she said. “This way we can bring them directly out and the transfer will be much quicker. With a heliport being built at Kelowna (General) Hospital, it will mean a hospital-to-hospital transfer.”
Kelowna General Hospital is currently constructing a new wing that will have a heliport built on its roof as well.
Jeff Olsen, unit chief for Grand Forks Ambulance Services, agreed and said it coincides well with the launch of B.C. Ambulance Service’s Autolaunch program on Sunday, May 27.
The Autolaunch program dispatches ground and air ambulances for specific, pre-determined emergency calls based on a patient’s condition.
“Along with a ground ambulance, a helicopter will be dispatched to land at the hospital, using heliports such as this one, or land on scene responses, such as highways or schools, wherever the trauma has occurred,” explained Olsen. “There’s a non-refusal policy that the helicopter can take those patients to receiving hospitals without getting in discussions whether there is an available bed. Patients who are picked up will see a trauma team as fast as anybody could.”
The Autolaunch program was built and created on Vancouver Island eight years ago, and has since been operated out of the Lower Mainland.
With the service set in place in Kamloops, the program is now available to Grand Forks and the Kootenay Boundary area.
“Let’s say there’s a bad accident on the Paulson. A helicopter will start flying the same time an ambulance will leave to attend the accident,” Olsen said. “By the time we arrive back at the hospital, the helicopter will be waiting here for us. Or, if the patient is trapped or it’s a difficult extrication, the helicopter will land right in the Paulson, pick up the patient and bring the patient straight to Kelowna.”
Less time spent transferring patients will be a great benefit, he added
“I’m just really happy to see this and it’s money really well spent,” Olsen concluded. “It’s going to make a significant difference to the people living here.”
IHA said that the construction of the heliport was possible thanks to donations from the Clifton family, which donated a total of $150,000 to Boundary Hospital.
“I’d like to personally thank the Clifton family for their community commitment. Their generosity helps us ensure that patients who need to move to higher levels of care get there quickly and safely,” Embree said.
