Ålesund in the middle
Nestled between mountains, sea, and three vast regions lies the helicopter base and air ambulance base in Ålesund. Join us at the air ambulance service in Ålesund on a stormy autumn day.
Photo: Elin Åsbakk Lind
There is a storm brewing as we argue our way down to Vigra Airport.
Acting Managing Director of the Air Ambulance Service HF, Randi Spørck, aims to visit all the bases in the service, and now the helicopter base and air ambulance base in Ålesund are next on the list.
Diversity in Missions
The helicopter base is located at Ålesund Hospital. There, the crew is discussing just that: the weather. Will the weather permit another mission today?
- What characterises our base is that we are situated between fjord and mountain and between the three major regions of Health Mid-Norway, Health South-East, and Health West, says the medical leader at the helicopter base, Boris Erwied.
- This means a wide range of missions, including mountain missions with underslung loads (missions where the rescuer/patient is transported by rope beneath the helicopter), primary missions (for example, STEMI missions/blockages in the heart's coronary arteries), and secondary missions (intensive care and incubator missions), he continues.
Photo: Elin Åsbakk Lind
The base, with approximately 600 missions in 2023, is equipped with one of the service's two largest helicopters: the Leonardo AW139. This helicopter has more space, higher speed, and longer range than the Airbus H145 or H135, which are at most bases.
The AW139 is a helicopter that the medical leader in Ålesund is keen to retain in the future air ambulance service.
- Given the current medical structure, where patients from our region must go to St. Olav's Hospital in Trondheim for PCI treatment, we need a helicopter with corresponding speed and capacity. If Health Møre and Romsdal had this type of treatment, it would be more acceptable to downgrade the performance level of the helicopter, says Erwied.
And Randi Spørck visits all the bases precisely to hear what the crew at the bases are concerned about, as well as to share her own priorities.
- I want to elevate the profession, and I want to ensure that this highly competent specialist part of the pre-hospital service helps the right patients, she says.
Photo: Elin Åsbakk Lind
Rescuer Øivind Kleppe raised a matter he is passionate about, which is that the bags with medical equipment should be packed uniformly across all bases.
- I would like to see the Air Ambulance Service coordinate better in this regard. We rescuers work at different bases, and having to search for the right equipment in an emergency situation because it is packed differently everywhere is an unnecessary stress factor, he says.
Importance of Air Ambulance
The journey continues to the air ambulance base located at Vigra Airport. The base conducted 1,191 flight missions in 2023 with its Beech King Air B250 air ambulance. The base handles a large volume of secondary transports, with the majority being planned transfers.
- The air ambulance is a very important air ambulance resource for us here in Health Møre and Romsdal. Especially in the winter months, weather conditions are a relatively frequent reason why the helicopter cannot fly, and then the air ambulance is a valuable resource for emergency assistance. However, the challenge with some of these emergency missions is the ability to execute them due to rest time regulations for the flight crew, says section chief Ingbjørn Vestre.
Vestre is also focused on coordinating the emergency missions, which are particularly challenging to carry out. In Southern Norway, conference calls are used to plan missions, and here Vestre wants all parts of the crew to be included in the coordination of the mission.
I want the crew mentality that exists on the helicopter to be more applicable to the aircraft, he says.
Photo: Elin Åsbakk Lind
Section leader and flight nurse Frode Lindseth has been with the service on both aircraft and helicopters since the very beginning. However, he does not rest on his laurels and provided valuable input on changing the crew's shift times to optimise resource utilisation.
- By adjusting the start times of the shifts, we can better align with when we have the most missions, and we make better use of the pilots' duty time, he says.
Visited the AMK Centre
Spørck also had time for a visit to the AMK Centre at Ålesund Hospital, among other things, to hear about the experiences of MKA (Medical Coordination Air Ambulance) with the Flight Coordination Centre in the Air Ambulance Service HF.
- We collaborate incredibly well with the Flight Coordination Centre, and the fact that we are not located in the same place is not a problem for us, says section leader at AMK Møre and Romsdal, Mari Longva Hanssen.
Photo: Elin Åsbakk Lind
- These base visits are of great value to me. I gain a lot of useful insight and experience a constructive dialogue that is professionally grounded, says Spørck.