July 2007 - The Potrero View

Helipad
Continued from Page 21
the SFO airport. USCF physicians
would meet the child at their bedside
after the helicopter had landed on
the Mission Bay helipad and the
patient had been transferred into the
hospital.
“How are we going to audit
that?” shouted one audience member.
“We would like statistics about how
helipads are used at other hospitals,
like Oakland and Stanford,” said
another. According to Jim Adams,
Chief Executive Officer of the REACH
Air Medical Services, “Child health
care is poorly reimbursed,” noting
that physicians are usually paid
less for children’s trauma services
than adult services. “This isn’t a
business people get into, it’s a need
that’s met.”
“Sure, sure,” the audience
hooted. “There is just absolutely no
profit involved,” one participant said
sarcastically. Another Potrero Hill
resident cited a study on the overuse
of helicopters, noting that 22 percent
of helicopters have been turned away
by hospitals in the past 10 years.
Adams, who claimed to be familiar
with the study, said that it focused on
air transport called in by both trained
physicians and 9-1-1 operators,
who tend to misdiagnose problems.
Audience members requested that
the Action Team collect pertinent
helipad studies for review at the
following meeting
Thomas and Fernandes shifted to
an emotional register when they cited
a case of a 30-week-old infant who
died the previous weekend after an
overflowing Stanford hospital denied
the community physician’s request
for an air transfer. The child was
dispatched by ground transport, but
died before the ambulance reached
the closest qualified hospital. In
response to the story one participant
asked, “Is this emotional appeal for
children? You pick one case of a
baby dying, so please don’t resort to
emotionalism. You need a compelling
reason to keep 150,000 people awake
at night.”
Another attendee broke the
i n c r e a s i n g l y t e n s e m e e t i n g
atmosphere by insisting that his
fellow participant, who’d been vocal
throughout the workshop, start
“taking notes” because he was
dominating the floor and not allowing
other community members to speak.
At this point in the heated discussion
a soft-spoken British doctor arrived
to convey just how beneficial the
UCSF helipad would be to the
medical community. “This training
institution allows an aggregate of
medical excellence, which the helipad
could help advance,” he said.
Team member Ash insisted that
the helipad would help train health
care practitioners who are leaders
in their field. “We need to attract
people to our program,” he said,
distinguishing between the children’s
care department and the state-ofthe-art
cancer care facility. The
latter is elective and unrelated to the
emergency cases that would rely on
the helipad.
When asked if the UCSF Parnassus
hospital site would eventually move
their adult care facilities to Mission
Bay, increasing helicopter frequency,
Thomas responded with a definitive
“ No. Western San Francisco would
not be served appropriately,” said
Thomas, stating that UCSF has
no plans to transfer the liver and
neurosurgery departments from
Parnassus to Mission Bay. She also
insisted that “loyalties exist between
hospitals, and most physicians will
continue to request their preferred
hospital for their patients” if another
helipad-equipped hospital happened
to be closer than the Mission Bay
site.
“Has there been talk with SF
General regarding their proposed
helipad?” an audience member
asked. “It’s amazing how the two
hospitals are on parallel tracks and
there’s no discussion between them at
all. Especially since helicopters are
taking off at SFGH and others are
coming into UCSF at similar speeds,”
she said, pointing-out that the UCSF
Environmental Impact Report makes
no mention of the proposed SFGH
helipad.
“They are a trauma center where
time is of the essence,” explained
Thomas. UCSF Children’s Hospital
is not a designated trauma center, but
rather a level two trauma center that
can only initiate hospital to hospital
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21
transfers. Cindy Lima, Director
of Medical Center Administration,
assured residents that the helipad
must first be approved by the Federal
Aviation Administration, California
Department of Transportation, and
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
before it can be built.
Barbara Bagot-Lopez, UCSF
Community Relations Director for the
Mission Bay Community Task Force,
announced that USCF will hold a
helicopter test flight in the coming
months, at a date to be announced,
and residents are encouraged to
attend. Bagot-Lopez also distributed
press releases detailing future Action
Team meetings. “Slow moving
is a good thing when it comes to
community input,” she said. UCSF
hopes to engender as much community
involvement in the helipad decision
making process as possible through
newspaper advertisements and mass
email mailings. Dogpatch, Mission
Bay, Potrero Hill, and South-of-
Market residents are particularly
encouraged to attend the next UCSF
community workshop on Monday,
August 1, which will focus on bicycle
and pedestrian access to the hospital.
Additional information can be found
at: www.community.ucsf.edu.
A d v e r t i s e i n t h e v i e w
There’s no better way to reach Dogpatch, Mission Bay,
Potrero, and even South of Market residents.
Contact us for rates and ad placement:
415.626.8723
office@potreroview.net
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415.229.1357
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marylace.com