Delaware’s largest healthcare system, ChristianaCare, added a new helicopter to its fleet for providing emergency care to the state and surrounding area.
Officials with AirMethods and ChristianaCare gathered to unveil the Airbus H145 D3 helicopter Wednesday afternoon at the Wilmington airport.It will operate out of Christiana’s Newark location and is anticipated to run between 50 to 60 flights a month.
It’s the hospital’s first model of this helicopter, which is operated by AirMethods. AirMethods is an emergency service company that contracts with health systems across the country.ChristianaCare has worked with Airbus and AirMethods since 2001.
ChristianaCare program director John Roussis said they’re trading in an older airframe for this new one. It has greater automation capabilities, which he said allows pilots to plan out emergency flight routes.
“Our primary goal is always safety, along with innovation,” he said. “This met both those needs. So, we feel as though this airframe positions our pilots to work in a safer environment and positions our medical crews to be in a safer environment.”
With EMS labor force shortages, he said demand for emergency air service is up.
The helicopter cost more than $7 million.
ChristianaCare partners with AirMethods’ LifeNet Medical Transport System to provide emergency medical transport. It operates two helicopters, the other running out of its southern location in Georgetown.
Travis Mason, the regional sales director forAirbus, called the program with ChristianaCare unique for the variety of regions it serves:
“It touches Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, parts of Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay Area, all from two bases that are both strategically located within Delaware.”
The helicopter is equipped to provide intensive care unit services while airborne and transport patients to hospitals for treatment, according to Airbus representatives.