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You rural folks will probably have more experience with this stuff than I do.
A week or two ago we got called to a field aprox. 1 mile north of a trauma center to meet a helicopter w/ critical patient on board.
As we got closer to the scene, we saw what we thought was the helicopter, circling around the area looking for the landing pad. We arrived at about 8:30 PM, and a security force in low-profile vehicles was standing guard.
Finally, literally minutes after we pulled in, they landed a short distance to the right of our vehicle. Once the 3 crew members were on our unit, and the patient was transported the mile to the trauma center, they wondered why we didn't turn on our lights to light up the landing area.
I had no instructions to light up, but then again the security force directing us was not medical or technically police authorities. I've heard of people using strobes, other use strobes with cones over them.
I'm wondering what your policy is on these things. Again, remember that I work for a private company that is within 10 minutes of a trauma center. There is no need for helicopter landings in rural places. All hospitals have helicopter pads, I still can't figure out why this helicopter couldn't just land on the hospital's pad.
Okay, enough rambling, anyone have any experience with this stuff?
A week or two ago we got called to a field aprox. 1 mile north of a trauma center to meet a helicopter w/ critical patient on board.
As we got closer to the scene, we saw what we thought was the helicopter, circling around the area looking for the landing pad. We arrived at about 8:30 PM, and a security force in low-profile vehicles was standing guard.
Finally, literally minutes after we pulled in, they landed a short distance to the right of our vehicle. Once the 3 crew members were on our unit, and the patient was transported the mile to the trauma center, they wondered why we didn't turn on our lights to light up the landing area.
I had no instructions to light up, but then again the security force directing us was not medical or technically police authorities. I've heard of people using strobes, other use strobes with cones over them.
I'm wondering what your policy is on these things. Again, remember that I work for a private company that is within 10 minutes of a trauma center. There is no need for helicopter landings in rural places. All hospitals have helicopter pads, I still can't figure out why this helicopter couldn't just land on the hospital's pad.
Okay, enough rambling, anyone have any experience with this stuff?