MedSTAR Transport, MedStar Health’s critical care transport program, is adding a new Airbus H145 D3 helicopter to its fleet, the health system announced Thursday in a news release. The aircraft, one of only a few of its type flying in the air medical industry in the United States, is meant to help the program move critically ill and injured patients across the Washington, D.C., and Maryland region.
The release says the larger helicopter is designed for patients with complicated medical needs: those who require several medical devices, neonatal intensive care, ECMO (a temporary heart-lung support system) or bariatric transport.
MedStar said the H145 D3 offers a substantially larger cabin with more room for patient care, equipment and additional clinicians; space for two stretchers; 1,000 pounds of additional payload capacity; and more fuel capacity for longer mission planning. A five-blade rotor system provides greater lift and what the release calls a smoother ride for critically ill patients and crews, and more powerful engines support the added weight and perform better in high heat and humidity.
MedSTAR Transport was founded in 1983 as the first hospital-based air medical service in the Washington area. It now runs air and ground ambulances and a communications center, moves about 5,000 patients a year and specializes in transfers between hospitals, with selected scene responses, including to Level I trauma centers. The program is licensed for commercial EMS in Maryland and the District of Columbia and is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems for ground, rotor-wing and neonatal ICU transport.
The release did not say where the new helicopter will be based, when it enters service or how it will be paid for, and it did not say whether it replaces an existing aircraft. Medical helicopters share busy airspace; Maryland State Police warned drone pilots in September about near-misses with medevac helicopters.
