A medical helicopter can be summoned with the push of a button in rural areas of southwestern Indiana. WNIN’s John Gibson has details:
Ascension St. Vincent says it’s adopted new technology - a big red StatFlight button - to reduce the amount of time it takes for one of its StatFlight helicopters to reach a patient in need.
With a single push, a rural hospital can summon a chopper and get it in the air immediately, cutting 10-to-12 minutes off the time it takes to transport.
Among the nine Indiana hospitals with the new buttons are Memorial Hospital in Jasper and Daviess Community Hospital in Washington.
Ascension St. Vincent says 25 more buttons for StatFlight helicopters have been ordered.
The hospital system says while an emergency room may be close by, patients may require transfer to a higher-acuity hospital for specialized or critical care.
In those situations, the need to travel many miles quickly can be both urgent and life-altering.