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The Business of
Health Care Report Allow me to applaud CareFlite Air Ambulance, which has just celebrated its twenty-second birthday. CareFlite's immediate response to accident scenes makes the most of precious minutes by rushing patients to the appropriate hospital for treatment. The result has been countless lives saved. CareFlite began with one helicopter. Today, the program includes five helicopters, fifteen ground ambulances, four wheelchair vans, and a fixed-wing aircraft. The service is owned by Texas Health Resources, Methodist Hospitals of Dallas and Baylor Health Care System. Since its debut, CareFlite has transported more than 57,000 patients to area hospitals - an average of 3,500 patients per year from bases in Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, Frisco and Grand Prairie. Almost half of the flights are responses to accident scenes where patients lie critically injured. CareFlite also completes many hospital-to-hospital transports - especially for critically ill newborns. The crew includes a pilot, a specially-trained registered nurse and a paramedic. Pilots have thousands of hours of flight time before joining CareFlite. Flight nurses are experienced in emergency and critical care. Flight paramedics have at least four years of field EMS experience. Crews are trained in trauma, cardiac, obstetrics and burn care. The next time you hear the hum of CareFlite's blades and see the orange, blue and white helicopter, remember that this life-saving service is there for the entire North Texas area. On behalf of the thousands of patients and their families who have been touched by CareFlite, I say thank you to the men and women whose dedication to saving lives improves the health of our communities every day. If you have comments on health care or suggestions for topics to be addressed on this program, e-mail me at DougHawthorne@TexasHealth.org. Stay tuned to our weekly Business of Health Care reports here on TexasHealth.org and on News Radio 1080 KRLD. ©
2001 Texas Health Resources |
