HEMS & COVID-19
 

What is the consensus amongst HEMS pilots ref the COVID situation? I have recently read the article in Vertical mag & note the PPE issued to most US based operators, but what is the experience of UK based pilots? Are you able to maintain any form of decent distancing throughout your duty period? Being the only member of the crew that ain’t NHS employees, do you feel the management are asking a little much of their civvy drivers without ensuring the required levels of safety/protection?

Ebola , Swine flu , AIDS and Hillary Clinton.....

This bug is nothing. More panic and excuses to control the sheeple

Arrests and resignations ongoing - The silent war continues

Why bother even answering the question with that BS.

In answer to the question, socially distancing probably can’t work in any HEMS/EMS situation, offshore transfers and other flights that are deemed essential. Although many industries and businesses have been asked to close, essential businesses can continue to work.

You can ask all employers to provide the best PPE for any workplace you are in, or request vacation etc etc. obviously claims for pay, unemployment or furloughed situations are currently a minefield where ever you are in the world.

Stay safe.

Here in the UK the JRCALC have issued this: Section 5.1 refers https://www.gov.uk/government/public...possible-cases

5.1 Utilising the most appropriate conveying resource

Possible cases must not be conveyed by:

• a response car
• an Air Ambulance

As Jetscream says, JRCALC guidance has been issued. My partner is a HEMS doc and as the document states they are doing no transfer/retrieval of incidents where Covid19 is suspected, they are going instead by road.

She is also of the impression that her HEMS service will go offline in days. There are is less RTC related trauma at present due to the associated lockdown, furthermore ED and Anaesthetics consultants are in demand at the minute in a hospital setting.

Can I give some general advice for aircrew. HEMS arent grounded yet.

The important thing to remember is that 80% of infection is by aerosol. Treat ALL patients and bystanders as potentially positive. Keep the latter away. Putting a paper mask on the patient is a little help but I put a plastic oxygen mask on ALL patients as it stops most aerosol. No need to connect anything to it!

The real problem is intubation. Intubation can be done safely and is far safer than hand bagging a patient. It needs FFP3 masks and we have reusable plastic half face masks. You don it to intubate, then put it in a paper bag once the airway is isolated and use a normal helmet. Saliva and therefore suction equipment is high risk. Eye protection at all times so aircrew keep helmets on or have spare goggles. If not directly by a patient and not wearing a helmet, an ordinary mask is of no use and possible deleterious. Nitrile gloves and change them every sector.

All surfaces need regular cleaning with disinfectant or disinfectant wipes. Frames on doors get touched, headset connectors, seat controls, switches.

Aircrew are in the front so good ventilation will force air backwards. Remember our very high level helmets merely blow air inside a hood to keep us safe on ITU. Windows and vents fully open. Visors down at all times to deflect aerosol from both patient and medical crew. Dont share helmets or headsets - of course

Paper holds virus for 24 hours - pens are a source of cross infection

Hope this adds some practical advice to the published guidance which is more about direct patient care.

I heard that Urine is a very effective tool in the defence of COVID-19. So I have been drinking it for the past few weeks. The side benefit is that people stay at least 2m away cos my breath is heaving!
Be like DB, Drink wee!

Your taking the piss

https://flyinginireland.com/2020/03/...ntly-grounded/

first of many?

Sorry to hear this for those employed, always sad to see a service like this stop.

- This was nothing to do with Covid, they were over-tasked and under-budgeted, it was inevitable. It is extremely difficult for a HEMS service to survive purely as a charity.

How are they doing it in UK then?

Apart from all BS

Thanks for this, good advices and good practices will prevent people from being infected

what's changed DB? You always were full of piss 🤪🤪

A good point. That will hold for UK air ambulances, too, how's it going to affect their funding?

Hi Hugh. You are not correct Sir!. Mostly in the past I was full of SH1T!. Now, as TqTq states, I am taking the piss.
How are you doing Hugh. I hope retirement is treating you well.

Devon Air Ambulance have shut down their air operation. Health and Safety. They could not get far enough from each other.
An extract from the press release statement is quite clear....
Heléna Holt, CEO, explains “Standing down our aircraft has been a very difficult decision for us to make but one we have had to take in order to protect all of our crew.”
She added “Whilst the paramedics wear personal protective equipment (PPE) when treating and conveying patients, our pilots cannot operate the aircraft wearing PPE. They also cannot maintain a 2 metre distance between them and the patient. As we have no way of knowing whether a patient has coronavirus, this leaves them completely exposed within a small confined space. We hope our community will understand that this is an unacceptable risk.
"Please be assured that this is a temporary measure and subject to continual review. We will be working with colleagues in the NHS to identify other ways in which we can support the pandemic response as it develops.
"I would like to thank all of our supporters not just for the donations but also for their messages of support during this extremely challenging time. We will do our best to maintain our service and keep being there for patients, albeit by road not air.”

There may be others in the coming days, but the balance reasons given may well be different.

Most UK air ambulance are reasonably well off but they may be embarrassed by some of the "reserves reducing" capital projects they have just launched!

As for the operation in Cork that committed suicide by over reaching its funding which was always tenuous.... there are simply not enough people in Ireland to support it. It was always going to need government funding.

"As we have no way of knowing whether a patient has coronavirus, this leaves them completely exposed within a small confined space. We hope our community will understand that this is an unacceptable risk."

Really? That's more risky than facing an engine/gearbox/drive shaft or other critical component failure during a hoist rescue next to a cliff face?
I don't know, just tossing it out there. HEMS isn't for everyone. For those who've chosen it as a calling, do you abandon someone in need now because you don't know the risk? Or do you mitigate the risk as best you can, and hope that your number isn't up?
I'll take my chances with it. In all likelihood, many of us will end up infected in the long run in any event.

Hems doesn't winch in the uk... SAR does and is still operating.

Noted. I'm not in the UK, same discussions and concerns this side of the puddle

Wonder how long it will be before we see an announcement from Wiltshire Air Ambulance....

O&G aircraft also still operating with suspected cases onboard, procedures in place for separation and PPE etc

Yorkshire has grounded one H145 and is now reliant upon a single aircraft.

As expected there is a slightly different reason in that the complement no longer has a doctor on board ..... sending the medical staff to the hospitals where they are needed.

With the fall in trauma cases I can see more of the helicopters grounded.

Oddly that document earlier recommending that COVID-19 cases are not carried was either not widely circulated or not read by all. I guess there are lots similar documents in circulation at the moment.

Prince William wants to return to air ambulance duties to do his bit
 

Admirable as it is in these days of risk, one hopes it does not effect the livelihood of any pilots who’s living depends on it in these times of people being laid off.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/112902...ulance-return/

And in contradiction....
https://www.daat.org/news/devon-air-...-down-aircraft

What is wrong with DAAT ? Seem to remember years ago flying a Gazelle in an S10 respirator and NBC suit, wasn't that difficult

HRH H145 rating renewal
 

Duke Of Cambridge wants to return back to the cockpit and fly HEMs back in our neck of the woods Good on him....

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nce-pilot.html

cheers

Just big PR. He could drive a road ambulance or work at the Excel NHS Nightingale Hospital. Plenty of pilots who are current can do the flying.

What an idiot.

Does anyone have any documented cases of medical retrieval flight crews, rotary or fixed, being infected and suffering serious complications as a result of Covid-19 exposure.

I had some numbers quoted to me yesterday of 2 x crew requiring ventilation and 1 x crew fatality as a result of operating in an aircraft transporting Covid19 patients within the UK. I am interested in this from a risk assessment point of view and did a cursory attempt at fact changing these details but drew a blank. Can anyone support the above with reputable data?

While not wanting to sound laissez-faire, EMS pilots refusing to soldier because of the COVID-19 risks is not really cricket is it! Flying an EMS helicopter is a great privilege, not at all, like hard work and for the most part, regarded as a glamorous job by the great unwashed. Now the great unwashed really do need our help. Abandoning them cos it just got a little bit unpleasant is distasteful in my view., You take the rough with the smooth. The courage and determination of the hospital staff should be an example to us all to keep going as long as there is fuel in the tanks and a valid CofA. Its easy to hide behind risk assessments, management policies etc but we are all born with a backbone (most of us anyway). Now is the time to exercise it a bit! Blubbing like a big jessie cos there's a nasty bug going around. D&C should be ashamed.

Thames Valley Air Ambulance asking for help with PPE

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-...52106679Thames Valley Air Ambulance has urged businesses to donate protective kit because staff are "lacking the most suitable equipment" to use during the coronavirus pandemic.

The charity is not included in the official personal protective equipment (PPE) distribution system.

But it said a "major shortage" meant its staff could be left without PPE.

It said it was "inevitable" they would come into contact with coronavirus patients.

The charity, which is based at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, said it was "keen not to add pressure to official stocks if possible".

It currently serves Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire and has urged businesses to donate items including surgical masks and anti-bacterial wipes.

Not UK, but sadly a spanish hems pilot in babcock spain has sadly lost is life in the line of duty after contracting covid-19

DB - a small flaw in your gung-ho plan perhaps?

The point is to stop transmission, not work until you get it.

It seems clear that the level of exposure has a lot to do with the severity of what you get from it.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f72cfbaebf.jpg

this was posted on linkedin by his colleague, condolences to his family and friends, godspeed.

Quite correct, most severe cases in otherwise healthy individuals involve exposure to a high viral load. Such a load may arise during aerosol generating procedures arising from artificial airway support and ventilation. These are common procedures in a HEMS pre-hospital setting. Despite the best precautions flight crew may be exposed, that risk needs to be balanced up by just how critical the service is at the moment. A HEMS crew mostly attending trauma calls in an urban/sub-urban setting are less in demand that a crew whose role is more frequently Specialist Transfer and Retrieval from remote rural locations. It would be sensible to take the former off line, the latter probably needs to continue throughout the Covid19 pandemic.

Thanks for that - very sad and condolences to the family. The fatality I had quoted to me was mentioned as being Babcock crew, I assumed in error that it was a UK crew.

Yorkshire to be grounded completely, probably by end of week. All paramedics going back to support new corona hospital being set up in Harrogate.

BP free fuel for HEMS and Cornwall launch AW169
 

Mate of mine flies from Babcock in Italy with H145....they started to wear surgical masks And gloves since beginning of March..,..and fine operating that way safely.. It not ideal it’s not exactly like the mil AR5 respirator etc but better than nothing.

Slightly digressing With PPE, on BBC Look East Tuesday night, interviews pair of ladies who are carers. Before they go into one of their clients houses, they don one piece green suitmand hood, and full face respirator ...(sounds familiar to those fo us who have done NBC training the old days). when they leave the premises they’re go through decontam drills ( am sure it would frighten the hell out of a lot of Some old folk dressed like that). One of the ladies said it was difficult to communicate through the respirator and am sure it be even worse for those who are hard of hearing.


Some good news though , BP wants to supply free fuel to UK HeMS ops

https://www.heliopsmag.com/air-bp-to...land-and-wales

and also Cornwall new AW169 commenced ops as of yesterday .

https://cornwallairambulancetrust.or...first-mission/

Best of luck all and hope to hell the crisis levels out and begins to go away with all the social isolation, and our HeMs charities get backing from HMG at this time

Cheers

DRF Luftrettung PPE
 

From my other neck of the wooS: in 🇩🇪🇦🇹 Could this work ?? And it would not hamper flight safety especially those who fly H145.

Cheerz


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