Northwest MedStar Integrating with Life Flight Network

The beauty of living a rural life is wide-open spaces, privacy and a slower pace. Combined with stunning scenery and outdoor recreation, it’s the reason so many call the Idaho Panhandle home and don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. But a risk all those who live far from a major metropolitan area take is that if something goes terribly wrong with their health, it can be an awful long drive to the hospital. A recent decision by two well-known medical teams is aimed at cutting down that travel time in order to save more lives.

As of April 1, Northwest MedStar is now fully integrated with the nonprofit, Oregon based Life Flight Network.

“Similar to how Northwest MedStar was formed more than two decades ago, this collaboration takes best practices from each program to create broader, more comprehensive air medical services,” said Nancy Vorhees, chief administrative officer for Northwest MedStar and Inland Northwest Health Services (INHS).

Life Flight is opening two new helicopter bases – one in Walla Walla and one in Colville – and also adding a fixed wing aircraft out of Moses Lake.

“Colville will see a significant decrease in the wait time for a helicopter,” said Justin Dillingham, chief customer officer for the Life Flight Network. “When a patient has a heart attack, stroke or other significant medical emergency, time can be critical. Saving 20 to 30 minutes by having the helicopter based locally will mean the difference between life and death for some patients or improve their quality of life after recovering.”

The closest helicopter team servicing Boundary County is based out of Sandpoint and many are surprised to learn that this team alone transports roughly 300 patients each year. When the weather is too bad to fly, Life Flight partners with local ground transportation and can also get patients quickly to medically configured airplanes for transportation to Spokane or Seattle. The integration of Northwest MedStar into Life Flight Network will also improve the coordination of resources.

“Should Sandpoint be on another flight, we’re able to utilize the team based in Spokane more easily. Additionally, we have a neonatal/pediatric team based in Spokane. These crewmembers are specially trained to transport the most critically ill neonatal and pediatric patients,” said Dillingham.

Clark Fork resident Jessica Herbig knows full well how minutes can mean the difference in life and death as she recounts her father’s near death experience:

“My dad was traveling west on Highway 200 almost to Sandpoint on his '51 Harley on September 16, 2007. An elderly woman failed to signal or use her brakes and ran him over as she was crossing his lane of traffic to turn onto a side road from the highway. I was living in Billings, Montana when we got the phone call that he had been run over, and we chartered a private jet to fly us to Coeur d’Alene. We reached the airport from Billings and arrived at the hospital as they were wheeling my dad up to the roof to get on the helicopter that brought him to the airport where he was then flown to Seattle.

A Bonner County EMS on scene did an emergency tracheotomy so he could breathe again, and Life Flight landed on the highway to airlift him to KMC in Coeur d'Alene. We didn't know then that he was bleeding out through a severed artery in his upper leg. When Life Flight got him to KMC, they bundled him in a flight suit and compressed the bleed unknowingly, which contributed to saving his life, and he was then flown to the Coeur d’Alene airport and onto Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The quick response time from Life Flight coupled with the actions at KMC and on the Jet to Harborview, stopped him from bleeding out completely before they got him to Seattle. Without Life Flight’s ability to get him to top-of-the-line medical care quickly, he wouldn't be here. An ambulance wouldn't have been equipped to deal with his injuries.

I was told numerous times during our stay at Harborview that it came down to seconds between life and death for him. Literally every second counted to get him from the scene to medical care.

My dad is recovered, though considered permanently disabled, and with the help of a prosthetic enjoys most of the activities he liked before the accident such as hunting, fishing and water skiing.”

Community members with current Northwest MedStar memberships automatically become Life Flight Network members. Members will receive a renewal notice mailed to their mailing address directly from Life Flight Network one month in advance of their expiration date. New members will join through Life Flight Network. In addition to the same reciprocity partnerships that Northwest MedStar offered, Life Flight Network’s reciprocal partnership with other air medical programs expands coverage for members throughout the nation.

Time is critical in any life or death situation and, with this merger, time is what is being saved by streamlining efforts and expanding coverage areas. You can never fully prepare for an emergency but know that there is a team standing by, trained and ready to do all they can to save a life.

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