Lifeflight partners with MSA to improve rural access

    Not long ago, a communications specialist for LifeFlight of Maine received a call to transport a critically-injured snowmobiler from a trail in Kokadjo, a rural community just east of Moosehead Lake. In emergency medicine, time is the overwhelming determining factor in a patient’s survival, but because of the trail’s remote location, it took more than three hours to get the patient to a waiting LifeFlight helicopter for a 35-minute flight to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.
    In an effort to improve access and reduce extraction time for emergency calls involving snowmobile accidents, LifeFlight of Maine and the Maine Snowmobile Association have formed a partnership to establish landing zones along the main trail system and educate snowmobile clubs across the state on developing a comprehensive rescue plan.
    “By establishing a plan locally, clubs and responders will know what resources are available and how to implement those resources when the need arises,” said Bob LaFontaine, coastal region vice president of the Maine Snowmobile Association. “LifeFlight will not be needed at every accident, but when they are, this project will help ensure the helicopter can gain direct access to the trail system.”
    Snowmobiling has long been an important tradition in Maine and the hundreds of local clubs have worked tirelessly to create a world-class, statewide trail system. Last year, more than 100,000 snowmobilers explored the state’s 13,000 miles of trail. The LifeFlight/MSA project seeks to enhance the safety of all of these snowmobilers.
    The project is twofold: first, local snowmobile clubs are working to establish landing zones at appropriate locations along the trail; and second, LifeFlight crew members and local rescue personnel will be training snowmobilers on how to report a serious accident and how to set up a landing zone in the unlikely event local rescue is not available.
    Each local club will locate a few sites along the trail that meet the criteria for a landing zone. Criteria for remote landing zones include a firm, level area in a 100-foot by 100-foot square clear of power lines and tree branches. Clubs can then provide GPS coordinates for those sites to LifeFlight’s dispatchers and pilots. MedComm, a separate organization that provides communications specialists for LifeFlight of Maine and other ground ambulance services, will maintain a database of the trail coordinates, as well as panoramic photographs of each landing zone.
    A key factor in the project is involvement from local fire and rescue personnel, many of whom have already been trained in landing zone establishment and safety. These EMS providers are also an integral part of any rescue plan and will likely be the first responders to the scene of most accidents. Working closely with local rescue providers, LifeFlight staff will visit snowmobile clubs across the state to give detailed information on how to report a serious accident, establish a code of conduct for trail users and maintain a safe environment at the landing zones when the helicopter arrives.  
    For more information on how to schedule a communications and ground safety training for your local snowmobile club, contact Jon “JR” Roebuck at jonr@medcommdispatch.org or contact 888-421-4228, or call 785-2288.