Heritage Snapshot: Part 99

In 1969 Loma Linda University Medical Center’s Volunteer Service League donated $43,263 to build a heliport on the roof of the North Wing. Complete with landing lights for nighttime events, it would accommodate emergency helicopter traffic from the surrounding mountains and deserts. Eventually it would contribute to the saving of many lives. At opening ceremonies on October 26, 1969, California Assemblyman Jerry Lewis pointed out that the 54-foot-square facility would provide medical personnel with precious extra moments that could well spell the difference between life and death. The first patient to use the new heliport was an injured workman flown from a construction project near Crestline, 24 miles north in the San Bernardino Mountains. Thirty minutes after the call was received at Western Helicopters, Inc. in Rialto, the patient was in the Medical Center’s emergency room. It all began after Medical Center Administrator, C. Victor Way, delivered a talk on the high cost of medical care to the Rialto Rotary Club. As an example he described one machine that would save one life a year. It cost the Medical Center $100,000. Afterward, Alec Fergusson, the founder of Western Helicopters, stood up. “Have you ever thought of using a helicopter?” Fergusson asked. “Yes,” Way replied. “But they’re too expensive.” The School of Medicine’s Department of Surgery well knew that helicopters had increasingly proven their worth in saving lives during the Korean and Viet Nam Wars. Appropriate care during the “Golden Hour” (the 60 minutes immediately following an injury) had been proven to be instrumental in saving lives. The Medical Center’s Volunteer Service League had recently funded the construction of the rooftop heliport on the north wing of the Medical Center. Fergusson threw out the challenge. “I just heard you tell 50 people that Loma Linda would spend $100,000 for one machine to save one life. How many lives would a helicopter save?” The idea made sense. “You know,” Way pondered out loud, “no one ever approached us on that basis. Give us a proposition.” The proposition was negotiated with Assistant Administrator Norman H. Meyer and Director of Emergency Services Thomas J. Zirkle, MD. Over the 1970 Christmas/New Year’s holidays, LLUMC made a ten-day trial using a five-passenger, French-built, Allouette III. This craft had a good track record landing at high altitudes. Several organizations cooperated in the experiment—the California Highway Patrol, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, and local ambulance companies. In that time, the helicopter transported ten accident victims—all from the San Bernardino Mountains. Although the trial succeeded, the team determined that they needed more space inside. To remedy that situation, Meyer and Zirkle acquired two big, military-surplus Sikorsky H-19’s from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Released by the State Education Agency for Surplus Property, the olive drab machines “looked pretty bad,” according to Meyer. Still, he authorized Fergusson’s company, Western Helicopters, Inc. to convert one of the Sikorskys into a civilian configuration for air taxi/charter certification. He also authorized Western Helicopters to transform the roomy cabin into an air ambulance. An investment of $60,000 outfitted LLUMC’s newly designated S-55-B with the most advanced life support systems of an intensive care unit. The air ambulance could carry four litter patients and one seated ambulatory patient, plus a pilot and an air medic. A Hospital Emergency Administrative Radio linked the Medevac helicopter to 150 hospitals in Southern California. Dr. Zirkle became Medical Director of the Air Medical Service. “We hired only pilots with at least 5,000 hours of flying experience,” he said. One of four pilots was available 24-hours-a-day. Calls would come into the Medical Center’s Emergency Department. While the helicopter made the five-minute flight to Loma Linda, an air medic would gather any specialized equipment that might be needed for a particular patient. Occasionally additional personnel would accompany the flight. A premature baby, for example, might require a nurse or respiratory therapist, or possibly even a physician, in addition to a transport incubator. The first helicopter, capable of flying between 90 and 100 miles per hour, went into service on June 5, 1972. Following the installation of a new engine, it underwent extensive flight-testing and was fully licensed by the Federal Aviation Agency. In time, because of altitude limitations and an inability to answer mountain calls on hot days, the Medical Center’s Volunteer Service League financed two-thirds of the $200,000 cost to equip the second helicopter with medical equipment and a 650-horsepower turbine engine. Starting in January, 1974, the Air Medical Service assigned the first helicopter to a backup role for use on the few occasions when two emergency calls came in simultaneously. According to Alec Fergusson, the cooperative program succeeded because Western Helicopters, Inc. fully controlled the maintenance and operation of the helicopters and LLUMC fully controlled the life-saving equipment, supplies, and air medics. No contract existed between the two organizations. Both partners took pride in the life-saving endeavor. The Medical Center’s two emergency heliports, one on top of the Children’s Hospital, have been used as much as 1,627 times a year. And its third heliport has been in operation at Loma Linda University Medical Center—Murrieta for the last three years.