Friday, June 23, 2006

Randall Arlett Interim CEO of Chrissie Tomlinson Hospital

An Air ambulance plane which gives emergency care.

In the wake of reports by Cayman Net News about the need for an air ambulance service, a Canadian air ambulance service wants to send two planes to this country for a trial run, having been alerted to the country's need after a Canadian Government official saw the Net News article on-line.

The Director of Skymedical Emergency Services, Chris Wishnousky, said he has been in discussions with both the Health Services Authority (HSA) and Chrissie Tomlinson Hospital about bringing down two air ambulance planes with a trained support crew including pilots, mechanics, nurses and paramedics that would be available around the clock, which could happen as early as 17 July.

"We can provide up to two air ambulance planes with teams of four that have training in full advanced cardiac life support, full paediatrics advance life support with each nurse specialising in Obstetrics," said Mr Wishnousky.

"From the time we receive the call - we can be airborne in 20 minutes and get a patient to a proper facility in Miami in just over two hours. You can't get a plane off the ground in Miami in two hours. And we can do it for one-third of the cost.

"We will be a dedicated air ambulance service to the Cayman Islands and if there is bad weather you will not have to wonder if a plane is going to come."

He added that his planes are also designed to service small runways such as in Cayman Brac and Little Cayman so they could service the entire country.

Mr Wishnousky said his company specialises in providing air ambulance service to rural areas in Canada, but with a recent contract to provide this service to Turks and Caicos it is also branching out to the Caribbean.

The Cayman Islands came to Mr Wishnousky's attention after a Canadian government official brought the article in Cayman Net News to his attention in which the HSA stated it was considering bringing an ambulance service into this country.

According to health care experts, most ambulance services are based in the US so if there is a storm in Florida and the Cayman Islands at the same time, air ambulance services are too busy transporting US patients with Caribbean patients taking a lower priority. Having a dedicated air ambulance service on Island would likely be more reliable and cost-effective.
It would also be able to service cruise ship tourists who may have medical problems at sea.

Another factor surrounding an air ambulance service is that it would enable patients suffering from a major heart attack to get to an invasive cardiac catheterization laboratory in Miami within the one to three-hour window to prevent heart damage and save lives.

Currently, there is no invasive cardiac catheterization in this country. 

There have been questions within the health care industry on the lack of collaboration between the two hospitals on significant capital-intensive projects, such as an air ambulance service in a small population of 50,000 residents.

Industry professionals have stated that politics will continue to block these two hospitals from working together in spite of CEOs from both hospitals stating they were willing to work together.

The interim CEO of Chrissie Tomlinson Hospital, Randall Arlett, stated that an ambulance service is definitely needed in this country and is one of the numerous capital-intensive projects it would like to collaborate with the HSA on.

"We are independently looking at alternatives and we welcome the opportunity to work with the Cayman Islands Hospital to create local solutions for both the private and public sector," added Mr Arlett.

"An air ambulance would be a good first project to form a private-public partnership that could grow into other needed medical services."

Other capital-intensive projects that Chrissie Tomlinson is seeking to collaborate with the HSA on are an MRI, cardiology services and other specialised services.

Mr Arlett explained that forming partnerships on capital-intensive projects such as air ambulance between the public and private sector hospitals is a growing trend in the Caribbean and there are numerous examples of it working.

The CEO of HSA, Craig Brown, was unavailable for comment by press time.

-shurna@caymannetnews.com

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