The emergency response to the fatal helicopter crash this past week will be reviewed along with state medevac helicopter protocols including guidelines for deploying them to crash scenes.
“Our goal is to continue our life-saving mission and to do so in the most efficient and effective way as possible,” said Robert Bass, executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems, at a news conference Monday at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore City.
A team, consisting of representatives from the air medical industry, trauma surgeons, state medical directors and other emergency responders skilled at a national level, is expected to complete the review by the end of the year, he said.
The Sept. 28 crash in Walker Mill Regional Park in Prince George’s that killed four and seriously injured another was the deadliest in Maryland since state police helicopter rescue missions began about 40 years.
Since this helicopter crash, however, a debate has intensified about when to transport those injured in accidents to a hospital by vehicle or air and other state guidelines established by the American College of Surgeons.
Such decisions are complicated because trauma triage is not an exact science, and time is the enemy when responding to critically injured patients, said Dr. Thomas Scalea, physician-in-chief at the shock trauma center.
“If you’re lying on the side of the road, you deserve to hear a helicopter land,” Scalea said.
Scalea welcomed the review as long as money was not an issue and the state’s medevac system continued serving as a model program.
“This is the finest emergency medical care that is available in the world and we can’t risk losing that,” he said.
Also present was Scott Wells, father of the helicopter crash’s only survivor, Jordan Wells, 18, of Waldorf, who sustained numerous broken bones and internal injuries.
She and another person were being transported from a traffic crash in Charles County.
The father recounted speaking to his daughter this week for the first time since the crash, adding that her first words were apologizing for “wrecking the car.”
Scalea said trauma center staff members were doing all they could to speed her recovery, but the recovery process is expected to take about 12 months.
“I’m not going to say that it hasn’t been a nightmare, but we still remain grateful for all the paramedics and care she’s received,” Scott Wells said.
The last fatal medical helicopter crash was in 1986. Since then, state police have flown about 100,000 missions without a deadly crash, state officials said.
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