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The Omniflight - Charleston Aero-Medical Program provides air ambulance services for South Carolina and portions of Georgia. The OmniFlight Charleston service was founded in 1987 in Charleston, South Carolina. Operated by Air Methods. The service uses a BK 117 helicopter as an air ambulance.
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History
On July 1, 1987, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) initiated the Meducare program utilizing a MBB BK-117 helicopter for emergency interfacility transports of Neonatal and Pediatric patients being transferred to the Medical University and simultaneously provided air ambulance operations for scene transport and adult interfacility critical care patients. The mission of the program was, and still is to save lives and reduce injury mortality through rapid transport of patients to specialized health care facilities. The helicopter was always owned and operated by Omniflight Helicopters, Inc.(OHI) which also provided the pilots and maintenance technicians. MUSC initially provided flight paramedics and flight nurses for adult transport and scene calls, and pediatric flight nurses and respiratory therapists for neonatal and pediatric inter-facility transports. The program was well marketed as an extension service of MUSC and therefore was extremely successful, completing 60-70 flights each month.
On March 1, 2001, a re-organization took place. Members of the Adult Flight Team were hired by Omniflight while the Pediatric Flight Team continued employment with MUSC. Omniflight maintained a modified contractual agreement with MUSC to provide rotor-wing transportation for all incoming Adult and Pediatric patients. Omniflight also changed the program's name to "Meducare-Air", taking advantage of the established Meducare brand recognition and as an effort to reflect its ongoing contractual association with MUSC.
In 2009, Omniflight attempted to increase local flight volumes by securing air medical transport agreements with private hospitals in the Charleston vicinity that directly competed with MUSC. Omniflight renamed the program "Omniflight-Charleston" in an effort to minimize the perception that they only provided air medical transport services for MUSC. In August 2011, MUSC elected to end all contractual ties with OHI. At the same time, OHI was acquired by Air Methods Corporation(AMC) and the program was renamed "South Carolina LifeNet-7".
SCLN-7 is one of six rotor-wing bases operated by AMC in South Carolina. AMC eventually replaced the aging BK-117 with a Eurocopter EC-135 and most recently downgraded to a single engine Eurocopter AS-350. As of this update, the program is still operational and available to respond and provide emergency air transportation services to all municipalities and hospitals throughout South Carolina and sections of Georgia.
General information
Meducare was originally based on MUSC property located in downtown Charleston. Eventually, MUSC growth required that the aircraft be based at an off-campus location and was relocated to a site on the former Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston, South Carolina. This site is owned/operated by the Department of Homeland Security and is currently being operated as a Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). This facility is not open to the public. In an effort to improve scene response times, LifeNet 7 was relocated to Moncks Corner, South Carolina in 2014 and is presently based at the Roper-Berkeley medical facility.
Inter-facility & emergency scene requests
The helicopter is staffed with one pilot, one flight nurse and one flight paramedic. All staff are currently AMC employees and each medical staff member maintains critical care transport certification. The base is also assigned a resident aircraft maintenance technician.
Medical control
The medical staff works from in-depth, aggressive treatment protocols. Medical control is provided locally by Lawrence Raney, MD who is under the guidance of a state-wide Medical Director.
Communications center
Communications are handled by a call center located in Omaha, Nebraska. Additional communications center information is available on the AMC website.
Dispatch
Local EMS providers or referring hospitals contact the AMC Air-Com Communications Center. A communications specialist will plot the requestor's information/location and the appropriate base pilot and medical crew are alerted. Once a decision is made to accept the transport (based on current and forecasted local weather conditions, safety of the aircraft, and safety of the flight crew), the flight is confirmed by radio and the flight team responds.