Local hospitals and emergency squads are bypassing the local medical helicopter firm in favor of others in Pittsburgh and Morgantown, forcing the Air Evac Lifeteam to leave the Wheeling-Ohio County Airport, according to airport manager Thomas Tominack.
Air Evac will leave the Ohio County Airport in November and relocate to Wetzel County because of a lack of calls, Tominack told Ohio County commissioners Tuesday night.
Air Evac has had a base at the Wheeling-Ohio County Airport since June 2008, and was the company's 78th location, he noted. The company now operates 80 locations.
Article Photos
Photo by Joselyn King
Ohio County commissioners, from left, Tim McCormick, Randy Wharton and David Sims, listen during their Tuesday meeting.
Tominack noted that he believes Air Evac to be qualified in that it has met the stringent requirements mandatory to be in the medical helicopter business.
"They're not getting the community support they hoped for from our area," Tominack said. "It's a very competitive industry. But we assumed when the helicopter operation got established here - bringing in the type of equipment they have, and the qualified staff they have - it would be a tremendous asset to not only to our airport, but to the community. There was the luxury of their being only a few seconds away by air to Ohio County and Brooke County residents, and we were elated to have them.
"Unfortunately, the local hospitals and local EMTs - even at the state dispatch level - haven't been using our Evac like they have competitors in Pittsburgh and Morgantown. Seems like there's an entrenched competition that put these guys at a disadvantage, and they came to this community to serve. So they're going to Wetzel County Hospital."
That move will take place in November, he told the commissioners.
Hospitals and EMTs have the option of calling for whichever medical air transport service they want to use. The most often used are STAT Medevac in Pittsburgh, and Health Met in Morgantown, he continued.
Calls are dispatched by Medcom, a state-run service also in Morgantown.
Tominack said there have been "some irregularities" in instances when a service from further away was dispatched to a local call.
He noted a recent stabbing in West Liberty when a medical helicopter was called in from Pittsburgh, and Air Evac was circumvented.
"So they're dispatching helicopters out of Pittsburgh and Morgantown for accidents in Ohio County?" Commissioner David Sims asked. "When we have the same service here, that almost borders on negligence.
"Someone's life is in danger, and they're getting a helicopter from 70 miles away."
Tominack said this was in fact happening, and that, "I can't believe they don't get sued."
"The depth of the competitive beast in this industry was something I was not aware of," he continued.
In an unrelated matter, commissioners also agreed to allow Robert "Scat" Scatterday and Ben Stout - representing the interest of the Ohio Valley Trail Partners - to facilitate work on matters pertaining to trail properties owned by the county.
This would include crafting application for grants that could extend local bike trails to The Highlands, and ultimately on to Washington, Pa., according to Scatterday.
The pair presently does similar work when it comes to city-owned properties.
"We're already doing stuff for you that we shouldn't be doing for you," Scatterday said. He noted people often mistaken all local bike trails as belonging to the city, when many actually are on county-owned properties.
Scatterday said they won't be paid for their work and they will not make any decisions pertaining to the county-owned trails. They will, however, make recommendations to county officials as to their use.
Scatterday said he serves as manager/engineer for the project, while Stout is the project's scientist.
"Don't spend any of our money," Commissioner Randy Wharton told the pair with tongue in cheek. "Don't make any decisions for us, and don't get us in trouble with the Environmental Protection Agency. Other than that, you can do whatever you want."