RSS Feed
|
|
|||||
|
MedFlight the hospital's other wing
"The doctor told me I could play sports again," Michael Gray said from behind a podium at the Westmoor Club, speaking to attendees of Boston Medflight's Nantucket Reception. It was only two short years ago that Gray nearly lost his life after hitting his head on the ground near Tom Nevers beach. Gray woke up later that night, screaming in pain and his parents took him to the Emergency Room at Nantucket Cottage Hospital. Doctors did a CAT scan on him and saw that pressure was building on his brain. Gray needed to be airlifted to a Boston hospital to have his skull opened up to relieve the pressure. "We were in the emergency room and the doctor said they had already called MedFlight," said Paul Gray, Michael's father, who organized the event at the Westmoor to raise awareness for the lifesaving not-forprofi t organization. "MedFlight saved my son's life, so I just wanted to give back and help them out." Michael Gray is just one of hundreds of people that have been flown off the island by Boston MedFlight. Nantucket represents about 10 percent of all of the medical evacuations flown by Boston MedFlight, the organization that comes to Nantucket in one of its helicopters or fixed wing aircraft around 300 times a year. "We love working with Nantucket Cottage Hospital. It's really a great group of people," said Boston MedFlight CEO, Dr. Suzanne Wedel. "They know what they can do, and they know what they can't do. When something comes up they can't do, they call us and we come down." Boston MedFlight operates on a $21 million budget, but because they will fly anyone regardless of their ability to pay, they lose money each year. Last year alone, they had losses of $2.3 million, with over $375,000 of that coming from patients being flown off Nantucket. The average cost of flying a patient off Nantucket is $11,500. Most of the losses are made up with contributions from the six teaching hospitals in Boston where MedFlight delivers patients - Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Children's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Tufts Medical Center-but the organization also seeks private donations to help offset losses. Providing emergency services to Nantucket is not only a financial hardship for Boston MedFlight, but the challenges of landing on an island known for fog can be a logistical hardship as well. "There is nothing better than coming down for a landing and seeing those lights on the runway," said Derek Gregory, who is a pilot for Boston Medflight's fixed wing jet. Gregory said the jet is often called in to come to Nantucket when weather conditions prohibit one of Boston Medflight's three helicopters from landing at Nantucket Cottage Hospital. "As long as we have about a half-a-mile of visibility, we can land," said Gregory. "It's a great airport to land at in bad conditions, but sometimes I wish I was able to come to Nantucket when the weather is nice." Coming to Nantucket under nice conditions, not including the weather, is not something Boston MedFlight is known to do. "The main reasons we come here are for cardiac and trauma-related problems," said flight nurse Greg Schneider. "In the summer, we're here almost every day." Schneider also spoke of the famous Nantucket fog, but from a standpoint different from a pilot. Often they do not know if they will be able to land at the hospital until they are only 250 feet above it, when they look to see if the lights on the landing pad are visible. "It's frustrating," said Schneider. "You want to be able to come out here and help in any way you can, but there are certain limitations and we just have to be able to work within those limitations." I |
for larger version       |
||||
)