North country shopping for helicopter service

FORT DRUM — Ten months after the Army stopped providing emergency air ambulance service on and off post, local leaders are still trying to get a state police helicopter stationed here to offset the loss.

Denise K. Young, Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization executive director, said Wednesday that her group wants federal funding earmarked for a new police helicopter that would be capable of emergency medical transport.

The group has asked U.S. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and U.S. Rep. John M. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, for help.

Mrs. Young said an alternative option is for the state police to redeploy one of its existing helicopters. The group is talking to state Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, about helping with that option.

"Either one of those would fill the gap," she said.

Fort Drum's Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic, or MAST, program annually flew about 60 critically injured people from Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties to Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, or other Level 1 trauma care facilities. Its medical evacuation service stopped May 15, when the Army reassigned the base's air ambulance detachment to Fort Lewis, Wash.

Charles F. Brenon III, county emergency medical services director, said the closest helicopter now is at Hancock International Airport, Syracuse. It belongs to the state police.

"With a trauma victim, we talk about the golden hour," he said.

If emergency responders can get a patient to a trauma unit within an hour and stabilize his blood pressure, Mr. Brenon said, the patient has a much better chance of survival.

"When the MAST program disappeared, it left a huge gap," he told county legislators at Tuesday's Health and Human Services Committee meeting.

The legislative committee later recommended joining the health planning organization and requesting federal funding for a state police helicopter. The entire Legislature is expected to approve the resolution April 1.

Mrs. Young's group considered requesting that the Army replace its deactivated program, but decided that adding a state police helicopter was "the most viable, fiscally responsible and pragmatic solution to this crisis."

Mrs. Young said the state police helicopter would be able to assist in area police investigations and aid in border security, activities the military was forbidden from doing. She said the state police "are absolutely in support of helping."

Capt. Darrin S. Pitkin, zone commander for Jefferson, Lewis, and Oswego counties, was in training Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

Mrs. Young added, "The expected support from Fort Drum is that if the state police were to secure an aviation unit, they would be willing to host it at Wheeler-Sack field."

Mrs. Young said the helicopter request likely will be a discussion topic at an April 23 summit between Fort Drum personnel and state and local leaders.

In the interim, Mr. Brenon's department has established nine landing zone sites that can be used for responding helicopters. Besides the state police, Jefferson County receives medical evacuation services from Mercy Flight Central, a private group with a Marcellus office. The sites are between the Alexandria Bay and Parish fire departments.

"The idea is to move the ambulance toward Syracuse," said Mr. Brenon, whose department does not want ambulances waiting for responding helicopters.

Mr. Brenon said the average response time for a Syracuse-based helicopter to any incident location in Jefferson County is at least 35 minutes.

"By starting south, we can decrease that time," he said.

The interim plan, Mr. Brenon said, should not usurp the request for a new helicopter. "This is a stopgap measure until we can get a bird here," he said.