Colleton County Fire-Rescue

9/21/2011

09/21/2011 – Ribbon Cutting Ceremony – “C” Shift

Air Methods Corp / Lifenet conducted a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to announce the opening of Lifenet 4, a new medical helicopter base in Colleton County. The Astar helicopter will be stationed at Colleton Medical Center which is centrally located in Colleton County. The base will operate 24/7, consisting of a crew of three; Pilot, Flight Nurse and Flight Paramedic. The crew began serving the community full-time on the 15th of August. It took a little over two years to find a company to commit the resources for a Colleton base. Colleton County is located in a hole, where the 40 mile coverage lines from three helicopters barely touch the borders. The empty corridor extended from the southern portions of the county, through lower Bamberg, northern Hampton and northeastern Allendale Counties. The new base fills in the gap, providing better coverage and greatly reduces response times. Being such a large rural area, the medical helicopters play a vital role in rapidly transporting the acutely sick or injured patients to trauma or other specialty centers.

Fire-Rescue and neighboring EMS Systems will utilize the service, but the area hospitals call the helicopter almost as much as their pre-hospital partners. Lifenet 3 from Orangeburg, had been relocating to Colleton Medical two ˝ days a week for over a year on Mondays and Wednesdays, so the new coverage is most welcome . Previous response times ranged from 17 to 40 minutes depending on the availability and which helicopter responded. Having the new base in operation cuts nearly 2/3s off of the response times. Air Methods, the Lifenet Parent Company, recently purchased Omniflight Helicopters greatly increasing the company’s size and resources. The company now has seven helicopters operating to serve South Carolina. So far the Colleton base has been averaging a little over one call per day and has responded as far away as Georgetown County.

 

The event was well attended by over 500 people. Lifenet personnel cooked and served 400 hamburgers and 300 hot dogs. A tent was set up at the ED ambulance ramp, with the actual ribbon cutting taking place at the helipad  near the rear of the hospital.  Rev. Zane Brown, Mitch Mongel CMC CEO, Bernard Warshaw Hospital Board Chairman, Chief McRoy and Chad Black Regional Manager for Air Methods spoke at the presentation. ED Director Judy Christy and Chief McRoy presented Flight Paramedic Junius Frederick with a plaque for his dedicated service and contributions to bringing the base here. Frederick was also recognized and given a second award by Chad Black from Air Methods. The ceremony was concluded when Mitch Mongel and McRoy cut the large red ribbon signifying the official opening of the base. Shortly after the ceremony, Medic 9 brought in a critical patient to the ED, who was flown to MUSC.