Motorists urged to be patient during helicopter rescues

Closing a road for a medical helicopter to land might be an inconvenience for motorists, but for the patient urgently requiring the care, it can be lifesaving.

ER24 urges all motorists to be patient when a helicopter rescue is underway.

A medical helicopter is used for various reasons:

• The seriousness of a patient’s injuries.
• The patient needs to get to an appropriate facility immediately.
• Bad terrain.
• To have the necessary medical expertise close by.

There are also various other factors that may influence the decision to airlift a patient. These are usually determined in conjunction with the medical officer on call.

ER24’s Gauteng regional manager, Gareth Staley said helicopters don’t always land on the road.

“We prefer not to land on a road. It remains a safety risk. We prefer to land on a field close to the scene, but sometimes the road is the only option. We will then get the traffic police, the fire department or the police to assist. If not, our crews assist by using road cones or blocking the road with ER24 vehicles.”

Reasons why a road gets closed:

• Helicopter requires enough space to land. This offers more options should something go wrong.
• There is no suitable space on the side of the road for the helicopter to land. This can be because of fences, barriers or uneven ground.
• Especially at night, the road offers better lighting.
• To be closer to the scene.

Jo Nieman, emergency service liaison at Flightshare, added, “There are certain scoring mechanisms that paramedics use when on a scene. For example, when a patient is seriously injured and the hospital is 10 minutes away, peak time traffic on this route will now take you about an hour. A helicopter is potentially the better option here.

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“You also need to consider the terrain. Are we stuck in the middle of nowhere? A patient might suffer from a spinal injury in a place far from civilisation. The road might be too bumpy and driving with the ambulance could potentially worsen the patient’s injury.

“A patient might also need the skills of a higher qualified paramedic and the helicopter is used to transport such a paramedic to a scene,” said Nieman.