By Alex Sanchez
UNMH Statement on Air Transport Safety
Second safety violation leads to restriction for one vendor
The University of New Mexico Hospital has clear procedures and policies to ensure the safety of everyone when it comes to the use of aircraft for medical transports. As the state's only Level 1 trauma center we work with multiple operators and air crafts for transports. It's important that communication happen to ensure the safety of the crews, our employees, patients and those who live around the hospital.
We did issue a suspension to one vendor after two violations of the safety procedures over the past few months, the most recent being this weekend when they again failed to follow the pre-established safety procedures of notification when lifting off from the helipad. With an average of more than 120 landings per month on our helipad, it is critical that we ensure that safety procedures are followed by all vendors.
This suspension has not impacted patient transports or patient access to care at UNMH. Patients are still being transported by this vendor and land at a near by location with ground transport to the hospital. We will continue to work with this vendor to be sure their crews, our patients, and our staff are all following the protocols we need to keep everyone safe.