Mayo Clinic to Showcase New, State-of-the-Art Emergency Medical Helicopter During Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC)

Thursday, October 16, 2008

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo One, a new state-of-the-art emergency medical helicopter, will be showcased during the Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC), Oct. 20-22, in Minneapolis.

The new helicopter is designed to transfer medical and trauma patients who are critically ill or injured and need rapid transport. Mayo Clinic's fleet of emergency medical helicopters is also collectively known as Mayo One. The new helicopter, Mayo's first American Eurocopter EC145, was customized to incorporate many high-tech features and the latest in safety advancements. It is among the most advanced aircraft and well-equipped medical transport helicopter in the country.

The helicopter will be on display at AMTC, at the Minneapolis Convention Center, 1301 Second Avenue South, Minneapolis, Booth #102, all three days of the conference.

Building on 25 years of air transport expertise, for its newest helicopter, Mayo Clinic requested many special features that help better serve air transport patients. The critical-care-equipped aircraft cabin, combined with the advanced avionics equipment installed for the pilots, provides a comprehensive, high-tech solution that meets the needs of critically ill patients. The aircraft also includes advanced flight safety features such as night vision goggles and a terrain awareness warning system, both recommended by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"Our goal is to elevate the standards for medical transport, both in terms of medical care and equipment and technology," says Scott Zietlow, M.D., Mayo Clinic trauma surgeon and medical director of the Mayo One program. "With the introduction of the latest Mayo One aircraft, we have clearly achieved this by taking air medical transport services to a new and unprecedented level."

State-of-the-Art Features

Features of the new helicopter include a state-of-the-art medical interior that supplies medical oxygen, suction and liquid oxygen. Mayo One is equipped with mounts for a medical ventilator, an infusion pump for delivering critical medicines to the circulatory system, a balloon pump which assists the heart with pumping blood through the body, a defibrillator, and two patient monitors. One is a fetal monitor for specialized pediatric transports. The primary patient stretcher has a rack to allow the patient monitor, IV bags, and infusion pump to travel with the patient, eliminating the need to remove the equipment from the aircraft and carry them alongside. The interior has heated drawers for storing IV fluids.

The aircraft is IFR (instrument flight rules)-equipped, meaning it can be flown in almost any weather, using only instruments when necessary for navigation. The flight displays are computerized "glass cockpit" flat screens. Two highly accurate GPS receivers can determine the position of the aircraft within a couple of meters while moving, and two standard navigation receivers are integrated into the aircraft navigation system. The aircraft also is equipped with an autopilot to reduce pilot workload during critical phases of the flight.

Safety features include two different collision avoidance systems, commonly called TAWS (terrain awareness warning systems), which are fed to a large display, and provide voice guidance to the pilots as well. The cockpit is night vertical incidence skywave (NVIS)-compatible, allowing pilots to fly the aircraft while wearing night vision goggles, proven to increase safety and reduce nighttime encounters with obstructions, according to the FAA. The aircraft also features onboard weather radar as well as a satellite data link for NEXRAD (next-generation radar) weather displays and aviation weather reports. The flight crew, including the medical personnel in the cabin, can communicate with other ground-based emergency medical services (EMS) units and dispatch centers with the multiple-band FM communications system.

Additionally, the aircraft is equipped with a satellite-based telephone system, as well as a satellite-based tracking system to allow Mayo Clinic's dispatch center to track the aircraft's location in real time.

Omniflight Helicopters, Inc. provides the pilots and maintenance technicians to support the Mayo-owned helicopter. The company has served in that supportive role since Mayo Clinic One program began in 1984.

Anthony DiNota, Omniflight president and chief operating officer says, "This state-of-the-art helicopter is, essentially, a virtual flying trauma center. The air medical services sector has come a long way since its inception and this new helicopter is evidence of the advancements the industry has realized."

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About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,700 physicians, scientists and researchers, and 50,100 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has campuses in Rochester, Minn; Jacksonville, Fla; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz.; and community-based providers in more than 70 locations in southern Minnesota., western Wisconsin and northeast Iowa. These locations treat more than half a million people each year. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education, visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com (www.mayoclinic.com) is available as a resource for your health stories.