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Safety is a primary concern for all medical transport professionals. It is of special concern for the Saint Alphonsus Life Flight crew. Variables in weather, radios that operate by line of sight, daylight versus darkness, landing and taking off in remote terrain or in a crowded urban scene, and difficulty maintaining communications with dispatch all contribute to the risk factors facing our flight crew.

Saint Alphonsus has recently addressed several of these concerns through the acquisition of three cutting-edge technologies:

Automated Flight Tracking System
One of the challenges in tracking medical emergency aircraft has been the limited range of ground- to-air voice communications. This is especially true for helicopters because they operate in remote and mountainous areas where radio signals have a tendency to perform poorly. Using satellite tracking, this system continually tracks the position of the aircraft in real time.

In addition, data from the aircraft's navigational GPS (Global Positioning System) transfers information to a satellite which, through a ground station, relays latitude and longitude data via the Internet to the dispatch center. This allows Life Flight dispatch to know the position of the helicopter on a continual basis. Should a helicopter fail to emit positioning data, dispatch is immediately alerted to a possible problem.

Above all, this automated flight tracking system enables our Life Flight pilots to focus more on flying the aircraft, locating the landing zone at the scene, and safely transporting the patient and crew to the appropriate medical destination.

Dispatch Software
New computer-aided dispatch software from Pinpoint® Technologies will dramatically improve our flight operations by collecting more data, efficiently managing our resources and tracking patient outcomes. It will also enhance our Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement systems and ensure we maintain “best practices” for transporting and caring for critical patients.

Through its simple Windows-based system, Pinpoint® streamlines the incoming call and dispatch process and automatically tracks flight operations and patient data for each mission. The program also accurately verifies the location destination, which helps to cut our response time in flying to a patient's location.

The Pinpoint dispatch software will provide quality process improvements with both our flight and medical operations and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

Night Vision Goggles
Recent breakthroughs in technology have now allowed night vision goggles to be used for civilian aviation. Saint Alphonsus Life Flight is the first air medical transport service in the region to acquire these goggles for our flight crew. Much of our mountainous terrain is very remote and dark—just the place where Life Flight resources are needed the most. Night vision goggles will now allow us to operate in more of these areas of extreme darkness, ultimately providing more patients with greater access to healthcare.

Saint Alphonsus Life Flight is committed to safety for our flight crew and for those we serve. As technology continues to develop better ways for us to serve the people of the region, we will continue to monitor and upgrade the quality of our operations.

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