Atlantic Health, Morristown Memorial Celebrate Five Years of Medevac Helicopter Service

Atlantic Ambulance Corporation, a subsidiary of Atlantic Health, the parent company of and Overlook Hospital, is marking half a decade of service with Atlantic Air One, its medevac helicopter based in northern New Jersey, while seeking to duplicate that success with a new, twin helicopter, Atlantic Air Two, in the southern region of state.

Atlantic Air One this year marks its fifth year of service. Since its launch in 2006, Air One has made nearly 400 flights each year, transporting patients from accident and other emergency scenes as well as to and from Morristown Memorial Hospital, named a Level I Regional Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons and a Level II by the state of New Jersey, and other medical facilities.

As Air One celebrates this milestone, Atlantic Ambulance has begun to bring the success of its medevac program to patients in southern New Jersey through Atlantic Air Two, part of a new partnership with Cooper University Hospital.

Atlantic Air One, based at a hangar in Netcong, is staffed by nurses and paramedics from Atlantic Ambulance, and piloted by PHI Inc., which owns and maintains the helicopter. The helicopter is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment such as GPS, radar, an aircraft collision avoidance system and four different communications radios, including satellite. In 2007, on its first anniversary, the crew of Air One became the first in New Jersey to be trained to use night-vision goggles, a special enhancement that allows the pilots and crew to more safely fly at night.

“Air One has truly exceeded expectations and has been established as a high-quality program that has elevated the standard in New Jersey of providing safe, fast and efficient transportation of patients to the care they need,” said Richard Donovan, director of Atlantic Ambulance.

In December 2010, Atlantic Ambulance launched Atlantic Air Two, which began providing medevac service to the southern-New Jersey regions of Cumberland, Burlington, Ocean, Atlantic, Gloucester, Salem and Cape May counties. Atlantic Air Two is based at the Millville Municipal Airport in Millville, in Cumberland County, and flies patients from emergency scenes to Cooper as well as to and from other medical facilities.

Air Two includes all of the features of Air One, including the Atlantic Ambulance/PHI crew. Both Air One and Air Two are EC-135 Eurocopters, a model of helicopter which is quieter than most others, thanks to a fan enclosed in the tail fin, and 10 blades, arranged asymmetrically in the rotor hub of the tail fin, which spread sound out over several frequencies.

As part of the agreement, Atlantic Ambulance will train Cooper nurses and paramedics to staff Atlantic Air Two, and Cooper will have access to the resources of Atlantic Ambulance’s Patient Transfer Center, which coordinates both the ground and air transportation of patients. Through this partnership, Atlantic Ambulance will help Cooper ultimately develop a transfer center of its own, emulating the model created by Atlantic Ambulance.

For more information about Atlantic Ambulance Corporation, visit http://atlanticambulance.org/.