7/13/2017 Patients the priority for Boston Medight medical staff - The Boston Globe

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Patients the priority for Boston MedFlight

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DAVID L RYAN/GLOBE STAFF

AmanwhofellfromaladderwascarriedtoaBostonMedFlighthelicopterbyNorfolkfirefightersand
EMTsundertheguidanceofScottMcKinnon(right).

ByBrianMacQuarrie G LOBE STAFF J ULY 1 2, 201 7

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7/13/2017 Patients the priority for Boston Medight medical staff - The Boston Globe

BEDFORD It only took an instant to disrupt the quiet sunny morning at Hanscom Air
Comments
Force Base.

We have a call, said critical-care nurse Christine Muszalski, her eyes darting to the civilian
helicopter parked inside the hangar. Its in Norfolk. We dont know what its for.

So began another mission for Boston MedFlight, a

nonprofit company that works with seven hospitals
to transport patients in dire emergencies.

Twelve minutes later, Muszalski and paramedic

Scott McKinnon were scurrying across a ball field
at a Norfolk elementary school, rushing to a fire
department ambulance where a 34-year-old man
thrashed in pain after a 10-foot fall from a ladder.

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Blood streamed from his left ear, a large knot had swollen on his skull, and he had severe
pain in his lower back.

Muszalski and McKinnon sedated him, bound him to a backboard, and helped rush him to
the helicopter on a stretcher.

In 10 minutes, they touched down on the helipad atop Brigham and Womens Hospital,
where they were met by a large trauma team. Mission accomplished.

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7/13/2017 Patients the priority for Boston Medight medical staff - The Boston Globe

Norfolk Fire Chief Coleman

Comments Bushnell, who watched
the helicopter arrive at the ball field, appreciated
the speedy response.

Everybody says this, but sometimes it really is the

difference between life and death, Bushnell said.

The sooner you provide care, the better they do,

said Dr. Jason Cohen, Boston MedFlights chief
medical officer.

Boston MedFlight transported just over 4,000

patients in the last fiscal year, almost evenly divided between air and ground on its four
helicopters, one fixed-wing aircraft, and six critical-care ambulances at Hanscom, in
Plymouth, and in Lawrence, company officials said.

Thats an average of 11 patients a day, and its the highest total among the five medical
aviation services in New England.

Babies and children account for 30 percent of the transports, according to chief executive
officer Maura Hughes. That number has been increasing, which helps hospitals keep their
staff on site instead of dispatching them to neonatal and pediatric emergencies, Boston
MedFlight officials said.

Weve taken that over basically. Its a huge source of pride for us, Cohen said. The company
has recently received approval for a $17 million project to build a new hangar and offices on
the civilian side of the Hanscom airfield.

The five medical aviation services in New England

cooperate on many levels, including air-traffic
Everybodysaysthis,but

control and backup for calls that other companies sometimesitreallyisthe

cannot field, said Elizabeth Conley, a former fire differencebetweenlifeand
lieutenant who monitors a bank of screens in death.
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Boston MedFlights communications
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7/13/2017 Patients the priority for Boston Medight medical staff - The Boston Globe

From her post, Conley directs pilots to one of

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3,000 designated landing zones in New England, scans those sites for obstacles, and checks
where every medical helicopter in the region is located at any time.

The pilots and crews do not know the specifics of an emergency when they are dispatched,
but they receive some patient information during the flight. When weather is a concern,
Conley said, these blind assignments help remove emotion from the pilots decision on
whether or not to fly.

There are days when we leave here, you could use a week to decompress, said John Duggan,
who also works in communications. But you have to be back the next day,

DAVID L RYAN/GLOBE STAFF

ChrisMuszalski,left,andScottMcKinnon,right,treatedafallvictimwhileheadingbacktoBostonfrom
Norfolk.

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7/13/2017 Patients the priority for Boston Medight medical staff - The Boston Globe

Boston MedFlight, Comments

which has operated since 1985, sprung from a decision by Boston
hospitals to concentrate medical aviation in one company, rather than have several hospitals
with air wings.

Boston MedFlight provides care regardless of a patients ability to pay, Hughes said. In the
last fiscal year, its Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements were $8 million less than the cost
of providing those services.

Deficits are subsidized by the seven hospitals that back Boston MedFlight: Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Childrens Hospital, Boston Medical Center, Brigham and
Womens Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, and
Tufts Medical Center.

We take care of everything from babies to someone over 100 years old, Muszalski said. You
never know what youre going to get. Five minutes from now, you could be standing in the
middle of the highway.

On this day, Muszalski and McKinnon left Brigham and Womens and flew immediately to
Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis, where emergency workers waited with a 54-year-
old Harwich man who had impaled his right hand on a spinning wire wheel. The flight took
25 minutes.

This is why they send them to Boston, where they have the best, said Hyannis Fire
Lieutenant Jeff Huska.

The injured man sat in the back of a Harwich ambulance as the pair hurried from the
helicopter. In 13 minutes, they were back in the air. The patient pursed his lips and glanced
out the window as the helicopter flew over Plymouth Harbor, a heavy bandage wrapped
around the hand that still held part of the wire wheel.

Antibiotics seeped into his body from a suspended intravenous bag, and Muszalski whispered
encouragement during the half-hour flight to Tufts Medical Center.

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7/13/2017 Patients the priority for Boston Medight medical staff - The Boston Globe

She and McKinnonComments

appeared to work seamlessly together taking notes, checking monitors,
and talking frequently through headsets attached to their helmets. Every movement seemed
essential and reflexive, without a trace of panic.

Somebody has to stay in control, McKinnon said after the flight to Tufts. If we dont stay in
control, the job isnt going to get done.

McKinnon spoke just off the Tufts helipad, where a spectacular view of downtown Boston
served as an open-air backdrop. He and Muszalski work under intense pressure to save lives,
but they are human beings, too.

Case in point: I dont like heights, Muszalski said.

DAVID L RYAN/GLOBE STAFF

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7/13/2017 Patients the priority for Boston Medight medical staff - The Boston Globe

Comments

DAVID L RYAN/GLOBE STAFF

ThemaintenancecrewcheckedaSikorskyS76,arotorwingaircraft,atBostonMedflightheadquartersin
HanscomField.

BrianMacQuarriecanbereachedatbrian.macquarrie@globe.com.

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