FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 24, 2007
Contact: Nicole Soucy, Office of Public Affairs
508-856-2000

WORCESTER - In the early hours of the morning of September 15, 1982, UMass Memorial Medical Center's Life Flight helicopter and crew were ready to save lives. But, according to Rory Duquette, the communications director who has been with the program since that first day, "The New England weather wouldn't cooperate. We had our first weather hold. After 18 months of planning, construction and training, everything was in place. We waited, and waited, had more coffee and waited some more."

It took almost 49 hours for the weather to clear and the first call to come in: the emergency department at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, MA, called September 17 to request an emergency transfer of a 68-year-old cardiac patient to the critical care unit at what was then UMass Medical Center. 

More than 45,000 calls and 26,600 completed patient missions later, UMass Memorial Life Flight is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Throughout the years the crew has seen vast changes in medical care and technology. Medical personnel are able to provide advanced life support care on the scene, with highly sophisticated monitoring devices to assess the patient's condition en route to the hospital.

One thing that has not changed much is the crew itself. Rory Duquette is still the communications director; chief pilot Jack Loadholt joined in 1983; chief flight nurse Cheryl Coyle, RN, came a few years afterward; many others date back 10 years or more. Those crew members, along with members from the UMass Memorial Emergency Medical Services (EMS), will celebrate their respective anniversaries this month.

"We have a rich history to celebrate," said Gregory Volturo, MD, chair of emergency medicine. "UMass Medical School has one of the oldest emergency medicine training programs in the United States. Life Flight has not only been a crucial element in patient care for the region, but has also been an invaluable training tool for hundreds of physicians."

Life Flight Medical Director Marc Restuccia, MD, said, "The 300-plus physicians we've trained in prehospital medicine are now placed throughout the country and armed services, and they're some of the most highly skilled people out there. Life Flight missions train medical residents to respond-and respond exceptionally well-to the most time-sensitive and life-threatening medical situations. Training like that can mean the difference in life or death for patients."

The Life Flight crew is unique. The aircraft is staffed with third-year emergency medicine residents, adding to the attraction of the residency program, and the flight nurses are among the most experienced and dedicated professionals in the industry. Because of what they must do, the nurses are required to have the skills of emergency, surgical and critical care nurses, as well as the ability to use these skills in the uncontrolled, out-of-hospital environment. One of the advantages of the hospital-based program is that Life Flight can draw upon expertise from throughout the medical center to improve clinical practice in taking care of these patients.

"Life Flight flies about 850 patients a year, which is remarkably busy," said Dr. Restuccia, who also serves as the division director of UMass Memorial EMS.  He noted that other programs with high patient figures have numerous helicopters, whereas UMass Memorial has had just one aircraft for most of its history.  We fly from Boston to Albany and from southern New Hampshire to southern Connecticut, so we have a very broad region to cover."

One continual challenge to the air ambulance program-demonstrated on day one of the program-is the New England weather. According to Mr. Duquette, a predawn mission may not be able to return to UMass Memorial Medical Center because of low ground fog rolling off Lake Quinsigamond next to the hospital. "The fog bank literally stops at the hospital entrance just past the helipad," he said.  "Sometimes we have to think fast and change the landing zone at the pickup site, too. The weather could read clear skies all around, but then the fog will stymie us in some spots."  Life Flight has 2,500 pre-identified landing zones throughout its coverage region.

UMass Memorial's EMS is also the 911 emergency medical provider to the cities of Worcester and neighboring Shrewsbury and has almost 80 paramedics and support staff.  Under the auspices of the Department of Emergency Medicine, EMS is involved in ongoing research projects investigating pre-hospital pain control, treatment protocols for congestive heart failure, pre-hospital thrombolytics, pre-hospital paramedic-only medication assisted intubation, as well as aviation communications education.

UMass Memorial EMS is also celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The service began in 1977 as a basic-only emergency medical technician service, with three ambulances serving the city of Worcester. UMass Memorial EMS now boasts six transporting ambulances serving Worcester and Shrewsbury and responds to nearly 30,000 calls per year as the primary 911 service for the two cities.