California Shock Trauma Air Rescue

Member Hospitals:
CALIFORNIA SHOCK TRAUMA AIR RESCUE
A NONPROFIT COMMUNITY SERVICE
Affiliate Hospitals:
Howard Memorial Hospital
Natividad Medical Center
4933 Bailey Loop • McClellan, CA 95652
www.calstar.org
Ukiah Valley Medical Center
Sutter Memorial Hospital
CALIFORNIA SHOCK TRAUMA AIR RESCUE
A NONPROFIT COMMUNITY SERVICE
Saint Louise Regional Hospital
CALSTAR Participates in Mass Casualty Incident Drill
CALIFORNIA SHOCK TRAUMA AIR RESCUE
A NONPROFIT COMMUNITY SERVICE
In May, CALSTAR participated in a large scale Mass
Casualty Incident (MCI) drill in rural Yolo County. The
drill was coordinated by Chief Mike Chandler of the
Rumsey Rancheria Fire Department. Other participants
included 12 fire departments; 3 law enforcement
agencies; Yolo County’s Emergency Communications
Agency, Office of Emergency Services and Coroners
Office; Esparto High School Regional Occupational
Program (ROP) students; Woodland Healthcare, Sutter
Davis Hospital, and UC Davis Medical Center; CHP
helicopter H24 and REACH Air Ambulance.
The drill scenario involved a casino tour bus crash with
approximately 30 victims. The ROP students were
moulaged (applied with mock injuries) and placed in
an overturned bus at the drill site adjacent to Highway
16. Drill objectives included early activation of
mutual aid resources; interagency communication and
coordination; and safe, effective air operations.
The drill was a large success. From an air operations
perspective, aircraft were dispatched in the correct order
CALSTAR was one of more than 20 EMS agencies and Yolo County
departments to participate in the Mass Casualty Incident drill in May.
according to proximity to the scene, and air-to-air
communications were established and maintained between
the pilots. In addition, the flight crews were afforded the
opportunity to practice two-patient loads under real time
conditions.
RotorWash
CALSTAR Pioneers New Helicopter Modification
and Guidance System
California Shock Trauma Air Rescue (CALSTAR) has the first
helicopter in the world modified to allow for dramatically
enhanced abilities and increased safety to make landings while
using Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), CALSTAR President and
CEO Joseph Cook announced recently. According to Cook, the
modification will help to save countless lives.
in inclement weather. When making an approach, the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) mandates that if pilots bring their
aircraft down to an altitude of 1,107 feet and still cannot see
the landing site they must abort the landing. The new vertical
guidance system will now allow pilots to drop their aircraft to 360
feet to see the landing site.
Deborah Pardee, who is based at CALSTAR 4 (Ukiah) as director
of the Coastal Valleys Region, said flight crews are still training
on the modified helicopter routes and approaches but they
should be in use in the very near future.
“This is a tremendous difference,” Likens said. “We will be able
to make landings that up until this modification would have
been impossible.”
Likens worked tirelessly with the system’s developers – Hickok
Paul Likens, lead pilot for CALSTAR 4, explained that the new
& Associates, designers of the approaches and low-altitude
system will allow pilots to make significantly more landings
routes, and Garmin International, who created the aircraft
avionics systems – for more than two
years to get the system approved by
CALSTAR 4’s Agusta 109 helicopter is the first aircraft in the world certified for the region’s
the FAA. “It was a tedious, difficult
new vertical guidance system.
process but it was well worth it,”
Likens said. “Without a doubt we will
be in a position to save more lives.”
In addition to the new flight system,
Hickok & Associates was able to
establish nearly 200 miles of offairway/feeder routes to provide
Minimum Instrument Altitudes (MIA)
en route to approaches. “What this
means is that we will be able to travel
directly on our own private lowaltitude routes,” Likens said.
CHP H24 and REACH 7 each transported two patients,
CALSTAR 4 (Ukiah) transported one patient, CALSTAR 10
(Jackson) transported three patients, and CALSTAR 8 (Vacaville)
transported four patients.
CALSTAR was represented by crew members Rich Ikerd,
Brent Murphy, Mary Barlow, Tim Kolysko, Dan Miller, Kelli
D'Agostini, Dave Milbourne, Rod Jamieson, Ken McCurry, Rachel
Miller, and Jennifer Prevost.
Primary beneficiaries of the new
system will be patients who need
to be taken to or picked up from
Ukiah Valley Medical Center (UVMC)
Volunteer student “victims” at the MCI drill
Our Mission:
To save lives, reduce disability and speed recovery for victims of trauma
and illness through rapid transport, quality medical care and education.
SUMMER 2009
CALIFORNIA SHOCK TRAUMA AIR RESCUE
A NONPROFIT COMMUNITY SERVICE
›› continued on page 3
Our Mission:
To save lives, reduce disability and speed recovery for victims of trauma
and illness through rapid transport, quality medical care and education.
CALSTAR 10 Opens in Amador County
In June at the American Legion Hall in Martell, CALSTAR
officially announced the grand opening of its new base,
CALSTAR 10, at Westover Field. The base is equipped with a
newly upgraded BO 105 helicopter, and has already performed
over 60 emergency air medical transports in Amador County.
CALSTAR 10’s primary aircraft is an upgraded Eurocopter BO 105.
Before CALSTAR 10 opened at Westover, the nearest air
ambulance service was dispatching from Columbia in Tuolumne
County. According to Sierra Foothills Regional Director David
Osuna, the resulting lag time prompted local first responders to
specifically request a CALSTAR base in Amador.
"This whole vision of coming to Amador County started with
employees of CAL FIRE," Osuna said. "There were people who
CALSTAR Thanks 25th Anniversary
Sponsors, Community Supporters
felt this area was really underserved."
We are pleased to announce that Bank of America and Rolls-Royce have each
chosen to sponsor CALSTAR’s 25th anniversary activities at the Community
Sponsor ($5,000) level. We are proud of our longstanding relationship with both
corporate partners, and thank them for helping CALSTAR to commemorate a very
special milestone in our organization’s history.
Chief Operating Officer Chris
Giller was also on hand for the
opening ceremony and emphasized
CALSTAR’s interest in building
community partnerships. "We're a
very unique model in our industry
in that we became a communitybased organization," Giller told the
attendees. "It's because of you and
your support that we're here."
Dr. Dave Duncan, an emergency
room physician and longstanding
CALSTAR medical advisor, gave
a brief history of air ambulances
and their transition from a strictly
military application to a civilian
service.
CALSTAR is also grateful to have received general operating support from Aera
Energy ($500) and the Loomis Lions Club ($300) for initiatives at CALSTAR 7 (Santa
Maria) and CALSTAR 10 (Jackson) respectively.
CALSTAR COO Chris Giller
speaks at the American
Legion Hall in Martell for
CALSTAR 10's grand opening.
Finally, CALSTAR continues to benefit from local grants provided by Wal-Mart and
Sam’s Club stores throughout our service area. Wal-Mart Store #2556 in Arroyo Grande,
CA, Wal-Mart Store #1648 in Carson City, NV, Wal-Mart Store #2458 in Salinas, CA,
Wal-Mart Store #1989 in Lompoc, CA, Wal-Mart Store #1988 in Roseville, CA, and
Sam’s Club Store #4799 in Citrus Heights, CA have contributed a total of $6,500 to their
local CALSTAR bases in 2009 to support ongoing capital equipment needs.
"It actually started in the Korean and Vietnam wars," he
explained. As a result of rapid air medical response, “suddenly
people were living where they used to die."
CALSTAR 10 is a fully-staffed 24-hour operation that will serve
over 200 victims of trauma and illness each year. Now in its
25th year of flight operations, CALSTAR has safely performed
over 38,000 patient transports throughout California and western
Nevada.
Since 1994, the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation has awarded grants
totaling more than $35 million and reaching citizens in all parts of
Contra Costa County. True to the original wishes of Dean and Margaret
Lesher, the Foundation continues to build on the strengths of the
community by supporting organizations and programs that provide
help and support to people in need; enhance and enrich the lives of all
citizens; and promote a healthy and exciting future for the community.
CALSTAR would like to thank our newest challenge grant donor and all
of our contributors who have supported the MD 902 Explorer project,
which will benefit tens of thousands of patients over the next 20 years.
For more information on this initiative and how to help CALSTAR reach
its goal, please contact Mike Nichols at (916) 921-4094 or mnichols@
calstar.org.
MD 902 Explorer
MD 902 Explorer
ProjectProject
$600,000
$400,000
$200,000
Funds raised to date
in Ukiah, Mendocino Coast District
Hospital (MCDH) in Fort Bragg, and
Redwood Coast Medical Services
(RCMS) in Gualala. Two years ago
CALSTAR placed an Automated Weather
Observing System at MCDH.
“With the addition of these new
approaches, CALSTAR is in the best
possible position to pick-up or deliver
patients to our coastal medical facilities
during inclement weather,” Pardee said.
According to Mike Nichols, director
of CALSTAR’s Development &
Outreach department, these dramatic
improvements would not have been
possible without the help of several very
generous grant funders. “Our sincere
appreciation goes out to the Allen-Heath
Memorial Foundation, the Community
Foundation of Mendocino County, the
George and Ruth Bradford Foundation,
Wells Fargo and the Ukiah Wal-Mart
store,” Nichols said.
Kenneth L. Meehan, CALSTAR Board Chair,
Executive Vice President Operations – John Muir Health
Joseph F. Cook, CALSTAR Board President,
President & CEO - CALSTAR
Bill Gilbert, CEO - Regional Medical Center of San Jose
Michael Heil, Principal - Healthworks, Inc.
Daryn Kumar, Assistant Administrator Sutter Roseville Medical Center
CALSTAR Management Team
Joseph F. Cook, President & CEO
CALSTAR’s Development Director Mike Nichols accepts a sponsorship check from
Blake Davies, sales and service manager for Rolls-Royce. The aircraft pictured, which
belonged to the late businessman and adventurer Steve Fossett, was used to test
Rolls-Royce’s new C30 engines.
Christian Giller, Chief Operations Officer
Tom Goff, Chief Services Officer
James Niles, Chief Financial Officer
Michael Baulch, Regional Director, CALSTAR 2, 5 & 9
$1 Million Project Goal
$800,000
CALSTAR Pioneers New Helicopter Modification
and Guidance System
CALSTAR Board of Directors
Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation Makes $50,000 Matching Grant
CALSTAR is happy to report that the Dean & Margaret Lesher
Foundation has committed $50,000 toward our $1 million total
challenge grant goal to purchase an MD 902 Explorer helicopter for
CALSTAR 1 (Concord). CALSTAR has now raised a total of $470,000 for
this project.
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Did you know that CALSTAR has a Group Membership Program?
Businesses, civic organizations, and other established groups with 15 or more members
are eligible to apply and save their members a minimum of $10 per year. If you belong
to or know of a group that might be interested, simply e-mail us at [email protected]
and we will contact you or your group representative with more information.
Help CALSTAR reach 25,000 memberships for our 25th anniversary!
Louie Bell, Director of Flight Operations
Bruce Betts, Director of Logistics
Suzanne Bradford, Region Director, CALSTAR 7
David Dyer, Director of Maintenance
Ross Fay, Regional Director, CALSTAR 1 & 8
Julie Hyde, Director of Information Technology
Paul Naas, Director of Medical Operations
Mike Nichols, Director of Development & Outreach
David Osuna, Regional Director, CALSTAR 3, 10 & 70
Tom Pandola, Region Director, CALSTAR 6
Debbie Pardee, Region Director, CALSTAR 4