CalStar provides link from accidents to specialized care
By Stephen Ward
In 1983, Dr. Donald Trunkey, an innovative physician with a dream to help injured patients regardless of their financial constraints, formed the California Shock/Trauma Air Rescue service.
Since then, CalStar has helped the Tahoe area provide quick transportation to nearby hospitals, with more than 3,000 transports since Tahoe’s CalStar-6 base opened in 2001.
Bryan Pond, a 47-year-old Meyers resident, has been with CalStar for more than 10 years. He works with a 5,500-pound, 28-foot long Eurocopter B0 105, capable of going 149mph, with a rotor span of more than 32 feet.
Landing on highways is normal for Calstar so patients are taken to hospitals faster. Photo/Kathryn Reed
The nonprofit medical flight service’s purpose is to get people with traumatic injuries to the nearest hospital as soon as possible.
Pond said the numbers haven’t fluctuated much within the last few years, with this years 247-patient transports being considered average.
“The most common accident we deal with are car wrecks,” Pond said. “In the winters, we have skiers we need to help, and in the summer there are boating accidents. I’d say that car wrecks are the types of accidents we deal with most, though.”
Something that sets the organization apart is that it flies two critical air nurses rather than the normal regime of one nurse and one paramedic.
CalStar doesn’t just transport people to and from hospitals. The organization also helps agencies such as Lake Valley Fire Department with wildfires and during inclement weather, and is featured at Barton Health’s annual skills lab to help inform medics and nurses about the latest technology within their field.
Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center partnered with CalStar in 2008 to install rescue vehicles with portable EKG devices. With the device, the EKG technology can determine the precise location of the abnormal blood flow to the heart by transmitting a 12-lead electrocardiogram image, which is instantly transmitted to the staff at CTRMC to prepare for the patient’s arrival. The technology has been incredibly helpful and the relationship between CTRMC and CalStar continues to be a strong one, according to CTRMC spokesman Jon Tyler.
Medical centers such as Barton Health uses CalStar not only to receive patients, but also to transport them to other hospitals if their conditions require extensive help.
Karla Peterson, the base hospital coordinator who has been working for Barton for more than 18 years, considers CalStar to be an integral part of the hospital.
“As a small hospital, we need to be able to take anyone in,” Peterson said. “However, we are aware of our limited resources and need to have a way to transport patients that need more help. If we didn’t have them, we’d be in trouble.”
Nicole Shearer, public relations business partner at Renown Medical Center in Reno, also considers the air ambulance service a commodity.
“Renown Health has a good partnership with CalStar,” Shearer said. “As the only Level II Trauma Center between Sacramento and Salt Lake City, services like those offered by CalStar help Renown’s rural patients get the care they need.”
Today, the company has more than eight full-time bases and has an abundance of helicopters and planes in its fleet, including four MD 902 Explorer helicopters and a Cessna 421.
CalStar is continuing to assist the Northern California region, with the South Lake Tahoe outfit striving to maintain close relations with the hospitals it partners with.
CalStar has a membership program that will cut the cost if their service is ever needed. Information is on CalStar’s website.
CalStar is a phenomenal organization and we’re soooo fortunate to have them based here at SLT Airport. Go to their website…a membership is a MUST and so reasonable for $50 or less a year an amazing bargain. We were(un)fortunately in need of their service and a $36,0000 helo ride was 0 because we were members. Professional in ALL areas!!!!
It seems like a good service, but is it really needed at 5 plus figures for a leg fracture. Do they transport people with no insurance, and does landing on Hy 50 for a arm fracture justify the traffic backups and or road rage that could result in a more serious medical condition? 36,000.00 for a non profit, sounds like some other non profits, high salaries for the principals of the non profit, with no profit left over.
Buy a membership. It will be the best investment that saved your life. Anyone that does mountain sports needs it.
40 year–anybody who drives a car, plays a sport, leaves their house for goodness sake, needs it! Very cheap insurance!
Mr. Pond is my SDad great guy and can put anybody back together. Cal-Star saves lives, ask my little brother who got a helicopter ride when he didn’t see a tree while on a snow mobile.
@lou pierini
God forbid you or someone you love is ever in need of their services you will thank your higher power that my Dad and his people are there.
1. Helicopters are the most dangerous type of air travel. 2. Air ambulances cause emergency rooms in rural ares to close, is Barton next? 3. The first 6 mo. of 2008 claimed the lives of 16 people in medical helicopter crashes. How long does it take to get a person to Reno from the first call to calstar? If I need the service I hope my insurance pays the cost, as it should.
Mr. Pierini, if you don’t know for sure whether or not your insurance will cover the cost of the flight, maybe you should read your policy. Personally, I know I have a very high deductible so I have a membership. Makes me feel more secure.
Excellent service. Air ambulace in Nevada saved my life 15’years ago. This is a no brainer.
Gentle advice to Lou – check your policy! My policy considers CalStar an “ambulance” and limits the payment for an ambulance to $750/incident. CalStar is somewhere between $15k and $20k to get you from south shore to Reno. I would have much rather purchased a $45 CalStar membership then receive the $15k+ bill. If only I knew then what I know now.
for 10 minutes or less time, at most, on the ride to reno pay $45.- to a non profit thats makes emergancy rooms close for a arm or leg problem, so you or ins. co. pays 30,000.00 for a ride to reno, you have to think outside the box! $45.00 X 56,000 people in the basin, and you have 2.52 million so why don,t you charge the 36 million in Ca. $45.00 so you can get 1.62 billion in revenue. i.e. for a non profit? Good intentions don,t get you a free ride!
BARTON WORKERS TOLD ME SOME PEOPLE HAVE PRIOROTIES OVER THE 45.00 MEMBERSHIP WHEN OTHERS ARE IN NEED WORSE THAN YOU.
lou – your insurance will not pay for anything it does not have to – anything that other insurance companies are not paying. private insurance is for profit and only works well for people who don’t need it. that is why all of the tea party medicare and champus recipients will never give up their government insurance. they just want to keep the rest of the population from having a decent modern first world medical system.
lz nks–your statements, once I was able to decifer what you said, are nonsense. Private insurance IS for profit. Don’t YOU try to make a profit in your work? But it does work when you need it. I know. I had cancer. Once I hit that deductible, they paid everything they were supposed to with no questions asked and no hassle for me. I was impressed. And saying that “tea party medicare and champus recipients” want to keep everyone else from having decent medical care is simply absurd. Most people would love for everyone to have access to good medical care, but taxing the middle class to death to pay for other people’s abortions and viagra is not the way to do it.
A ripoff, the gov. endorses it. It relives them of cost that taxpayers have paid for. Again, how much time is saved with air transport over local fire ambulances starting with the first call to 911, not much if any? any facts?
Mr. Pierini, I agree that sometimes the helicopters are called in when they’re not really needed. But sometimes seconds count, and sometimes injuries happen where nothing but a helicopter can get access. Saw it happen with a dirt biker injured on a mountain. No other way to get him out. So, though it isn’t perfect all the time, I think it is an excellent service and well worth the $45 membership.
Lou,
A helicopter used to transport ptients is typically referred to as an air ambulances. Air ambulances such as Calstar or Careflight are most often used in place of a ground ambulance when time is critical. These resources are even more crucial in communities such as ours. We are a semi-rural community with no trauma center, the closest is Reno. Many of the patients air ambulances transport are trauma related, and need trauma centers fast. And since an air ambulance flies as the crow does, transport times are much shorter than ground ambulances-time is critical. On the other hand, a broken leg is best served at our local hospital-Barton. However, Barton does not have all the facilities or Docters to meet all patients needs- thats where air ambulances provide an unmeasurable service to our/your community.
Steve
Barton does not have all the facilities or Doctors to meet all patients needs-but plenty bills agents!
So true !
I need to know how much time is saves. I have no answers yet, if accident occurs at ski run and hy 50 how much time is saved or lost because of weather or any other issue?
How long does it take to drive to Reno, Lou-70 minutes. An air ambulance, maybe 15. Your golden hour lasts 60. Don,t buy the insurance-its a free world. You cannot dispute the fact that an air ambulance makes sense.
Steve your facts are not accurate if your saying 15 minutes from the first call to arrival in reno! I could make Reno from stateline in less than 50 minutes if I had Red Lights on.
Lou, I made it to Reno in 45 with joe S,Gary THE JEWLER wanting to make a hot sports bet.
Lou, did you ever make up with joe,he’s still at the books,see him almost every day.
“Go Giants”
I,ve never had to with joe K. Where is the calstar stats., from the first call, WHERE IS THE BEEF Steve?????????????
Wow! This article got a big response! Do you know where Dr. Donald Trunkey is now? Just curious. Had had moved up to Portland area, I believe. He had lived near us in Montara for a number of years while practicing at S.F. General.