Saving seconds.
Saving lives.
20 years.
When the unthinkable happens, Parkview Hospital’s Samaritan flight crew responds with speed and expert emergency care. Operating from bases in Fort Wayne, Ind. and Rochester, Ind., Parkview’s two Samaritan medical helicopters take flight in an average of 5.6 minutes from the time dispatch receives a call.
This year, Samaritan is celebrating 20 years of service to residents in northeast Indiana, southern Michigan and northeastern Ohio. Since the Samaritan program began in 1989, crew members have flown more than 15,000 patients.
Although their primary service area is the 100-mile radius area around Fort Wayne and Rochester, the helicopters are equipped to fly 200 miles one way. Parkview Samaritan cooperates with other providers to provide transportation to hospitals that can best serve each patient's medical needs.
The crew aboard each flight includes a pilot, nurse and paramedic. The aircraft is configured to transport two critical adult patients.
The Parkview medical flight program provides a vital service to individuals who are critically injured. Parkview Samaritan also complements ground emergency medical services. Nearly 50 percent of Samaritan’s calls are trauma related, in which patients are flown to Parkview Trauma Center, the region’s first verified level II adult and pediatric trauma center. As a trauma center, Parkview has medical specialists available around the clock.
One call does it all
Time is precious during an emergency. Because of the affiliation between Samaritan and the Parkview Trauma Center, transportation and medical care can often begin sooner for critically ill patients who are transported by helicopter.
Fact Sheet
For emergency professionals