Sept. 08--The closure of Huntsville MedFlight's Danville base and removal of the MedFlight 2 helicopter may affect response times and reduce availability of helicopters to answer emergencies.
It also means the loss of 15 specialized jobs for Morgan County and the surrounding area.
David Bowman, regional director of Air Methods Corp., MedFlight's parent company, said employees were notified and the base was shuttered Tuesday. Bowman said it was a difficult decision.
"It just got past the point where it wasn't possible anymore," he said. "If there was any way we could still be there, we would."
MedFlight 2 was particularly convenient to areas of western Morgan County and much of Lawrence County.
"Obviously, with MedFlight not in Danville anymore, the response time will be a little greater (for some areas)," Bowman said.
The 15 staff members -- including pilots, flight nurses, flight medics and mechanics -- remain on the payroll until Sept. 17.
Bowman said they can either take other positions in the company -- Air Methods operates more than 400 helicopters in 43 states -- or MedFlight will help them find employment if they wish to remain in the community or enter another line of work.
"We're like a family," said Bowman, a former MedFlight flight nurse. "We live there at the hangar. We have our bunk rooms there. We eat together. We get up at 2 o'clock in the morning and go take care of a critical, dying patient together. They're not just employees."
The hangar leased from the Danville Volunteer Fire Department at Station No. 2 on Alabama 157 had been in operation since about 2007, Bowman said.
At the time, it was the area in greatest need, he said.
It was once routine for a chopper to make about 50 flights a month, but increased competition, dwindling flight numbers and low reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid eventually made it unfeasible to spend a few million dollars a year to keep the base running and the roughly $5 million aircraft aloft, Bowman said.
"You can only operate an expensive thing like a helicopter for so long without flying enough to pay the bills," he said. "We just don't have the volume to keep this base sustainable."
He said MedFlight needs to make three or four flights to generate the money a single flight generates "in New York or Connecticut, another state that has more reimbursement."
"We don't ask for insurance or payment up front. We don't care if you're a millionaire or don't have a dime to your name, we're going to help you," Bowman said.
Unfortunately, many patients are uninsured and the future impact of the Affordable Health Care Act remains an unknown, he said.
The MedFlight 1 helicopter continues to operate out of Meridianville, north of Huntsville in central Madison County, where it has been for 30 years.
At 115 mph, flights from Meridianville to downtown Decatur will take about 15 minutes. Flights to Lawrence Medical Center in Moulton will take 20 to 25 minutes.
"From Danville to Lawrence Medical Center it was only a six- or seven-minute flight, and it was only eight or 10 minutes at most to the hospitals in Decatur," Bowman said.
Decatur Fire Chief Darwin Clark said he believes trauma patents will still be transported to Huntsville Hospital in a timely manner.
"We don't see any immediate impact. However, we do have questions about availability," he said, pointing out there is now one less helicopter stationed in the area.
Accidents with multiple critical injuries or multiple accidents with critical injuries occurring at the same time sometimes lead 911 to dispatch two or three helicopters at once. Furthermore, one helicopter or another will occasionally be out of service for repairs. Weather also can affect response.
MedFlight 1 and a competing medical helicopter service, Cullman-based Air-Evac, are now the closest.
Falkville Police and Fire Chief Chris Free said the closure of MedFlight 2 was unlikely to have much impact in the far southern parts of Morgan County, to which Air-Evac is usually dispatched.
"If, for some reason, Air-Evac was out of service and we had to get the one from Meridianville, it could be a problem as far as response time, and it might be better to transport the patient to the nearest hospital to be picked up," Free said.
Bowman estimated flights to Falkville will take 17 or 18 minutes, and flights to extreme southwestern Morgan County -- about 49 nautical miles from the base -- will take 25 minutes.
Seth Burkett can be reached at 256-340-2446 or [email protected].
Copyright 2013 - The Decatur Daily, Ala.
