A Life Flight helicopter which has been allowed to permanently park on Hilo Medical Center’s helipad will soon be getting the boot.
The helicopter, operated by the statewide Hawaii Life Flight, is cleared to park in the spot under a three-year memorandum of agreement with Hawaii Health Systems Corp.
However, the agreement expires Sunday — and after several reported safety problems HHSC does not plan to renew, HHSC East Hawaii Regional CEO Dan Brinkman confirmed in a statement.
“Among other issues, the repeated failure of HLF to meet its MOA commitments to move its rotor within the agreed upon parameters … when other rotors needed access, was a significant factor in the nonrenewal,” Brinkman said in a reply to state Sen. Kai Kahele, who emailed the CEO pushing for the termination.
HHSC is instead requesting Hawaii Life Flight move its aircraft to the Hilo International Airport. Brinkman said in a statement to the Tribune-Herald “no funding (is) gained or lost” as a result of the move. Brinkman also said the move will not affect transport time or impact patients because “HLF can fly in from (the) airport.”
Calls to Hawaii Life Flight for comment were not returned by deadline.
Brinkman said the agreement was started three years ago, as a way to help establish the helicopter service because there was a “substantial investment on the part of HLF.”
While the pad technically meets minimum size requirements for the helicopter to park, it has still caused problems.
The U.S. Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area Department of Emergency Services reported twice in the past year instances in which its Blackhawk medevac helicopters were unable to land safely during training and other exercises because of the parked helicopter, Kahele said in his email to Brinkman.
The Hawaii Fire Department has also reported problems landing one of its aeromedical helicopters on the pad while occupied, the email said.
Kahele experienced the life-flight process firsthand earlier this year when his father, the late state Sen. Gil Kahele, went into cardiac arrest and was transported to Oahu. Kahele’s also a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines and said he’s since become more aware of the safety issues with the permanent parking, which he worries, if left in place, could become “catastrophic.”
“But being a pilot myself, I know that the minutes saved (having the aircraft parked on site) doesn’t warrant the potential risk and safety that we would be comprising,” he said.
“And if someone is going to have to utilize that transportation, you have time — it’s not like, two minutes later you’re (leaving). There’s the preparation for transportation and the (time) for the crew to get ready and there’s definitely time to call the airport as you get the patient ready to board. This isn’t going to put any patient at risk.”
Kona Community Hospital features a similar set-up — the hospital has a helicopter parked nearby at the Kona airport. Kona considered a helipad arrangement about a year ago, hospital spokeswoman Judy Donovan said, but decided “it wasn’t the most practical solution” at the time.
Donovan said the hospital could still reconsider in the future. She said it takes the aircraft about eight minutes to get to the hospital.
“The eight minutes that it takes to get here is not detrimental,” she said. “It’s a pretty quick turnaround. This has worked out very well for our community.”
Stats show 53 ER patients flew from HMC via helicopter in 2015. The hospital’s ER sees nearly 45,000 patients yearly.
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
