Mayo Clinic's Medical Helicopters Flying with a Vision of Safety

Monday, January 14, 2008

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Mayo Clinic's Medical Helicopters Flying with a Vision of Safety

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo One, Mayo Clinic's helicopter air ambulance service, became the third air medical program in the country to use night vision goggles by all crewmembers on all flights in hours of darkness. Until recently only the military was using the vision-augmenting binocular tool, however, refinements to the technology and training made it much more practical to use for air medical transport.

"The use of night vision goggles is one tool in our approach to aviation safety," says Dan Hankins, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at Mayo Clinic and medical director for Mayo One."The use of this technology is a proactive step we have taken, along with other equipment and training, to make transport by helicopter as safe as possible for our patients and crewmembers."

Dr. Hankins says he believes there will be pressure by aviation regulatory bodies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), at some point to require use of some type of night vision enhancement for all medical helicopters in the future, but Mayo chose to implement the enhancement now for the safety of all onboard. "Our practice has always been to apply proven technology, training and equipment to our role of serving patients on Mayo One," Dr. Hankins says.

According to Dr. Hankins, Mayo will not use the night vision device to fly more missions or fly in unsafe conditions. In addition to the night vision goggles, lighting in the aircraft cockpit and from instrument panels has been redesigned on all Mayo helicopters to accommodate night vision technology.

The night vision goggles mount to crewmembers' helmets and amplify ambient or existing light through special tubes to provide more definition and perspective while flying in low-light conditions. "The device has literally made flying at night safer," says Neil Wienk, a pilot and aviation site manager for the Mayo One program. "As a pilot I can now get a much better perspective of our surroundings and flight path, including better visibility at the scene of accidents which often take place in rural areas. We also have the added safety of every crewmember (a critical care nurse and critical care paramedic on each flight) using the goggles and viewing our landing zone from different vantage points inside the aircraft."

Approximately one-third of all missions flown by Mayo One occur during hours of darkness. Mayo Clinic has helicopter bases in Rochester and Mankato, Minn., and Eau Claire, Wis. Mayo's helicopters cover a 200-mile radius from each base.

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