Technical info

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Lutheran Air is the newest addition to Lutheran Hospital's Critical Care Transport team, joining the ground Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MoICU). The helicopter provides rapid transport of critically ill or injured patients. Its mission is to support area hospitals in northern Indiana, northwest Ohio and southern Michigan by offering lifesaving pre-hospital care and rapid access to tertiary care hospitals.

The helicopter's most common transport is interfacility – from referring hospital to receiving hospital. In addition, the helicopter is fully equipped for landing at any emergency scene with specially trained nurses and paramedics able to provide rapid and potentially lifesaving transport. There are many acute medical conditions which call for transporting patients via Lutheran Air, including cardiac, neurological, pediatric, neonatal, orthopedic, toxicological and trauma. Lutheran Air is also utilized for transport to the St. Joseph Regional Burn Center and the Lutheran Children's Hospital.

Lutheran Air coverage includes 150 nautical miles from Fort Wayne, Indiana. This coverage includes Indianapolis, South Bend, Toledo, Kalamazoo and hundreds of other cities and towns in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

Lutheran Air is an important component of the region's only accredited Chest Pain Center, located at Lutheran Hospital. The helicopter plays an important role in giving heart attack patients quick access to the hospital's cardiac catheterization (cath) labs. Research has proven that the faster a heart attack victim gets into the cath lab to have a blocked vessel opened, the better the outcome.

Lutheran Air offers many advantages, including reduced transport time, the care and equipment equivalent to that of a hospital emergency department trauma room, the services of specially trained flight paramedics and flight nurses, and instantaneous communication/consultation with the board certified emergency physicians of Lutheran Hospital's emergency department. Together, these enable Lutheran Air to provide rapid stabilizing treatment and transport for a complete range of emergency medical conditions.