New ambulance base
at Rush City airport benefits central Minnesota and western Wisconsin
by Tesha M. Christensen
Every day, the Lakes Region EMS touches lives throughout
central Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Courtesy of a new hangar and EMS base
at the Rush City airport, a medical helicopter has been added to the list of
how Lakes Region EMS benefits the community.
With the LifeLink III air ambulance team stationed in Rush
City four varying days a week for 10-hour days, the level of medical care has
been enhanced. Air travel will cut time from many situations, saving minutes
that can be the difference between fatality and survival.
Serious accidents are a small percentage of what the LifeLink
helicopter helps with in the area, according to Michelle Anderson, education
and community outreach manager for Lakes Region EMS. More frequently, the
helicopter is used to more quickly transport those who have suffered a heart
attack or stroke down to hospitals in the Twin Cities.
The thing is, you never know when you might really benefit from
having a helicopter close.
The Rush City community found that out in 2015 when
14-year-old Jared Loomis collapsed in gym class.
His heart had stopped.
The ninth-grader was found lying unresponsive in the west
lawn of the high school campus around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20. School staff
began CPR, until Sgt. Jason Foster and Lake Region EMS staff took over.
The Life Link III helicopter happened to be stationed in the
North Branch area that day. Its main base is in Anoka.
The helicopter soon landed on-site and airlifted Loomis
to Children’s Hospital in St. Paul. He arrived in just 30 minutes. An MRI
diagnosed his issue, and a defibrillator was put inside his chest to prevent
life-threatening abnormally fast heart rhythms.
Thanks in part to the LifeLink helicopter, Jared Loomis is
among the 1 percent of those who can resume a normal life after experiencing a
heart episode like that. He made a full recovery.
NEW RUSH CITY BASE
According to LREMS Executive Director Aaron Reinert, the new
hanger and base at Rush City Airport has brought hope to the community.
In 2016, Reinert knew that one of the greatest needs for
LREMS was to replace the aging Rush City base. Built in the early 1980s, the
structure had window and foundation leaks, and issues with the sewer lines. Yet
all the different options LREMS had explored exceeded the limited financial
resources available.
Lakes Region EMS does not receive any taxpayer subsidy, and
self-funds operations through fees and insurance payments.
“Hope showed itself in the form of an incredibly generous
donation from a local community resident, a business owner and philanthropist
by the name of Dennis Frandsen,” said Reinert.
Frandsen owned an 80x80-foot hangar at the Rush City airport,
and agreed to donate it to LREMS -- and provide additional resources to
renovate it. The hanger already had a garage door on the non-air side of the
airport that was a perfect fit for moving an ambulance in and out. Plus, it had
some crew comfort such as a kitchen, bathrooms, and crew rest area, in addition
to space for an aircraft.
Lakes Region took possession of the hangar in January 2016,
and set about installing a new septic system and drainage system in the floor.
Upon completion, the new base has five sleeping rooms, a
second floor for living quarters, and two separate living rooms. LREMS moved in
shortly after the 2017 fly-in at the Rush City airport.
In addition to housing the LREMS crew, the hangar has space
for the Life Link III air medical members, which include the pilot, flight nurse,
the flight paramedic, the EMS paramedic and an EMT.
Life Link III’s advanced providers have years of hospital
intensive care, emergency room or 911 experience. Clinical staff members
undergo extensive, continual in-service education to ensure the most advanced
critical care and technology are provided to any patient requiring specialized
care. If needed, specialized teams and/or physicians will accompany Life Link
III transport team members.
Within minutes of a request for transport, the Life Link III
crews are en route, and interventions are performed in the aircraft when
possible to minimize the time before the patient reaches definitive care. Life
Link III’s transportation services are accredited by CAMTS (Commission on
Accreditation of Medical Transportation Services), ensuring the highest
standards of quality and safety are met on every transport.
In January, LifeLink launched OneLink™, a mobile app that
allows hospitals and first responders to request air medical transport with the
click of a button. Life Link III’s OneLink™ connects a mobile device, tablet or
desktop directly to the Life Link III Communication Center to request an
aircraft when critical care transport is necessary. All transport requests are
transferred immediately to Life Link III’s computer aided dispatch (CAD) system
to get the request initiated as quickly as possible – when time is of the
essence and the patient condition is critical.
On board, Life Link crews can monitor and treat critically
ill or injured patients, such as: multi-system trauma patients; spinal cord
injury/neurological patients; head injury patients; high risk obstetrical
patients; newborn intensive care patients; cardiac, pulmonary and internal medicine
patients; burn patients; limb reattachment patients; transplant patients; and
pediatric trauma and medical patients.
Life Link III provides air medical transportation for
patients in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and throughout the United States
via helicopter and airplane ambulance. It completes over 2,000 patient
transports a year.
In 2016, the last year data is available for, LREMS responded
to more than 5,106 ambulance requests, a 1% increase from 2015. There were
3,521 emergency patients served and 1,525 hospital transfers.
It isn’t just Chisago County that benefits from having the
LifeLink helicopter stationed in Rush City, pointed out Anderson. Polk,
Burnett, Pine and Isanti counties are also served by this base, as it touches
thousands of people in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Article printed in the Rush City Community Guide.
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