Alternative plans in place as AirCare ends air ambulance service

BRANCH COUNTY — West Michigan AirCare will end services next weekend without a last-minute financial angel after an announcement to employees Feb. 16.

Branch County Medical Control Director Dr. Luke Saski said, "We'll still be able to deliver care and we'll still be able to fly patients out when needed."

A ProMedica Coldwater Regional Hospital emergency room doctor, Saski, said three other services can fly to Branch County.

If those air ambulances aren't available, the University of Michigan helicopter and Memorial MedFlight, a service of Beacon Health's Memorial Hospital of South Bend, which flies from Elkhart, can serve the county.

Saski said Samaritan from Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne can fly from hospital to hospital but is only licensed for on-scene landing if requested by one of the other services. "In that case, they are able to come and land on scene essentially as a backup as mutual aid."

The Medical Control director said, "It's going to take a little bit more effort to coordinate and call the second ambulance service or a third one" when air transport is the best option for patient outcomes.

Steve Frisbie, vice president of LifeCare ambulance, disagrees. "There is an impact. Anybody who tells you different would not be telling the truth."

Frisbie's concerns are flights from trauma scenes or for cardiac and other critical medical cases when fast transport to trauma centers matters in the patient's ultimate outcome.

"I think there's a big impact. There's not going to be a lot of helicopter service available for those kinds of scenes anymore," Frisbie said.

Central Dispatch 911 records showed only four air transports in 2023. One was an Amish buggy accident with five injuries and two deaths.

In 2022, Central Dispatch recorded only seven flights direct from a medical scene to a trauma center.

Frisbie said with no AirCare, "It will lengthen our time to get some critical patients from a scene to a trauma center. There's no doubt about that."

LifeCare already faces that problem when the weather prevents helicopter flights, or no helicopter is available.

Saski said ground ambulances already come to the hospital's emergency departments if a helicopter cannot fly.

He said ProMedica and other local hospitals can and do provide many patient services until the patient is transported to level one or two facilities.

ProMedica Coldwater became a Level Four Trauma Center this year. Saski said the hospital can provide many emergency measures until the patient can be transported by whatever method.

Frisbie said the local hospitals need to continue to increase local services. "They're just not as capable as a level one or level two facility. Maybe they will fill some of those needs."

Saski said, "We have had a great relationship with AirCare. They are a quality organization. It will be sad if they go away. If they do go away, we definitely have plans in place to continue coverage for the patients."

West Michigan AirCare history

West Michigan AirCare was founded in March 1993 as a cooperative between Ascension Borgess and Bronson Healthcare.

Metro Aviation provided helicopters, pilots, and maintenance services beginning in 2016.

As the number of air ambulance patients has dropped over the last several years, Borgess and Bronson decided to end their financial support this month.

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Frisbie said LifeCare will continue to transport patients by ground as quickly and safely as possible.

— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: AirCare ends service next week with medical response changing