Debunked: Why were Life Star helicopters not deployed to Sandy Hook School?

[Whitebeard]

I know I'm talking about the UK here, but in my area we have two air ambulances covering a large area of south west England, and whilst there is always one on stand by, they are NEVER auto launched, they are called in by the area emergency services controller as they deem fit on the advice of the first respondent on the scene. Factors that determine their use include, the availability of the aircraft, the ease of access for ground vehicles, proximity of safe landing sites to the incident area, condition of casualty and the urgency for their transportation and distance to the nearest suitable medical facility, etc

 

[deirdre]

get the air asset launch criteria for 2012 and the PCR'S and they say what you've asserted

you know something just occured to me. you don't need the PCRs in regards to helicopters, what you need is the ambulance radio calls. It dawned on me that all ambulances call the hospitals for incoming patients, they give ages, injuries etc. THAT is how you would know if medical control was part of the equation. no?

I found out there is always a medical control physician assigned to ER. And ambulances always call in incoming patients.

I think as the "expert" you should have provided this information yourself.

So Dr. Pat Broderick would have been the medical control physician even when Newtown ambulances left SH with pediatric trauma patients. pdf attached

Meehan stated that Dr. Broderick of Danbury Hospital Medical Control

here is an interview with Dr. Broderick. at 1:05 he says "we had received some pre-notifications, so we had our teams on standby and were redy to care for those patients"
and at 3:20 "through communications with the prehospital care providers we were ready and waiting"

http://www.necn.com/news/new-englan..._Danbury_Hospital_Via_EMS_NECN-247384051.html

 

[MikeG]

you know something just occured to me. you don't need the PCRs in regards to helicopters, what you need is the ambulance radio calls. It dawned on me that all ambulances call the hospitals for incoming patients, they give ages, injuries etc. THAT is how you would know if medical control was part of the equation. no?

I found out there is always a medical control physician assigned to ER. And ambulances always call in incoming patients.

I think as the "expert" you should have provided this information yourself.

So Dr. Pat Broderick would have been the medical control physician even when Newtown ambulances left SH with pediatric trauma patients. pdf attached

Meehan stated that Dr. Broderick of Danbury Hospital Medical Control

here is an interview with Dr. Broderick. at 1:05 he says "we had received some pre-notifications, so we had our teams on standby and were redy to care for those patients"
and at 3:20 "through communications with the prehospital care providers we were ready and waiting"

http://www.necn.com/news/new-englan..._Danbury_Hospital_Via_EMS_NECN-247384051.html

That makes sense.

I worked on ambulances as an EMT about thirty years ago while I was in the Army. Communication with the hospitals we served established the standards for patient care. It was a combination of medical knowledge and common sense that made the system work.

I have forgotten too much of what are outdated protocols to make any attempt at an argument from authority. We still used wooden backboards if you can believe that.

But I think the common sense part of basic communication between doctors and paramedics is important here.

 

[pdj]

With all due respect, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. I fully expect to find that Life Star was called for Sandy Hook; my question is why it didn't come in the end (though actually, we can't be positive it didn't overfly). Not because I think it's a conspiracy to deprive injured of care, but because a decision was likely made, or a problem encountered and I want to know what that decision and/or problem was.


"Posted: Jan 15, 2014 5:46 PM CST Updated: Feb 12, 2014 6:35 PM CST
By Joseph Wenzel IV, News Editor - email
New Hartford, CT (WFSB) -
A six-year-old child was "not severely injured" after falling off a lift at Ski Sundown in New Hartford Wednesday evening, emergency officials said. The incident was reported at 126 Ratlum Rd. about 6:30 p.m. The Life Star medical helicopter was called as a precaution, but emergency officials said minor injuries were reported"

http://www.wfsb.com/story/24464920/child-injured-at-ski-sundown-in-new-hartford

While I agree that services like Life Star are used conservatively, so as to avoid being unavailable for more serious calls, I think it's clear from the above example that the scene commander's choices play a part, and I would be surprised if the scene commander at Sandy Hook hadn't called Life Star as a precaution.

This was a remote location. This is what helicopters are for. When you have ambulances already on scene and lots of hospitals nearby you don't call a helicopter. Having said that when you look at the road leading up to the school you can't see how any ambulance could make it out of there. No cops directing traffic and keeping the road clear for emergency vehicles. Cars blocking the road helter-skelter all the way down the road and no ambulance near the school. That's the part that doesn't make sense. No paramedics were allowed into the school. Who declared the children dead if no paramedics were allowed in and why wasn't there any bodies pulled out and place on the triage area.[off topic content removed]. This whole scenario is wrong.

 

[Bruno D.]

This was a remote location. This is what helicopters are for. When you have ambulances already on scene and lots of hospitals nearby you don't call a helicopter. Having said that when you look at the road leading up to the school you can't see how any ambulance could make it out of there. No cops directing traffic and keeping the road clear for emergency vehicles. Cars blocking the road helter-skelter all the way down the road and no ambulance near the school. That's the part that doesn't make sense. No paramedics were allowed into the school. Who declared the children dead if no paramedics were allowed in and why wasn't there any bodies pulled out and place on the triage area. Adam Lanza was a better shot than our seal team snipers. He killed every child he hit and didn't leave any injuries. No one on the triage area. This whole scenario is wrong.

Any evidence for any of these claims?
- "No cops directing traffic and keeping the road clear for emergency vehicles"
- "Cars blocking the road helter-skelter all the way down the road and no ambulance near the school"
- "No paramedics were allowed into the school"
- "Adam Lanza was a better shot than our seal team snipers. He killed every child he hit and didn't leave any injuries"
- "No one on the triage area"

 

[Redwood]

This was a remote location. This is what helicopters are for.

Remote location?? Google maps says 16 minutes from SHES to Danbury Hospital.


https://www.google.com/maps/dir/12+...d2529210366e832b!2m2!1d-73.446289!2d41.405086

 

[RaceBanyon]

This was a remote location. This is what helicopters are for. When you have ambulances already on scene and lots of hospitals nearby you don't call a helicopter. Having said that when you look at the road leading up to the school you can't see how any ambulance could make it out of there. No cops directing traffic and keeping the road clear for emergency vehicles. Cars blocking the road helter-skelter all the way down the road and no ambulance near the school. That's the part that doesn't make sense. No paramedics were allowed into the school. Who declared the children dead if no paramedics were allowed in and why wasn't there any bodies pulled out and place on the triage area. Adam Lanza was a better shot than our seal team snipers. He killed every child he hit and didn't leave any injuries. No one on the triage area. This whole scenario is wrong.

There's just so much easily disproven, debunked nonsense here.

If there were no injuries (which is false as there were two), then why would anyone be on the triage area? That's not even correct anyway. [Ms. Pisani], with her injured foot being elevated, can very clearly be seen on the secondary triage by the firehouse.



Paramedics were absolutely allowed in the school, only after the school was no longer declared a hot zone. It doesn't sound like you read the final report [...]

 

[deirdre]

were absolutely allowed in the school, only after the school was no longer declared a hot zone

That is not completely accurate. PDFs attached, bold added for emphasis
Meehan's statement

Meehan stated that once at SHES, he met up with John Reed (a tactical Paramedic dispatched to the scene by Danbury Hospital).

Meehan stated that he and Reed then met up with Matthew Cassavechia (Director of Emergency Services for Danbury Hospital and a tactical Paramedic). Meehan stated that they then saw State Police Sgt Bill Cario who Meehan stated he knows personally. Meehan stated that the scene
was chaos and he saw an adult female victim with a foot wound walking from the school to the fire house.

Meehan stated that Sgt Cario then escorted Cassavechia, Reed and him into the building to begin patient assessment and treatment.

Meehan stated at this point it was still unknown if there was another shooter so they were escorted by Troopers as they moved into the building.

Cario's statement

As I was
disposing of the towel, Paramedic Matt Cassavechia approached me. I have known Cassavechia for many years and recognized him as the head of EMS for Danbury Hospital. Cassavechia asked how long it would be until he could get into the building. I told him the building was not yet secured, that all the injured were out, and that numerous dead persons remained in the school. Cassavechia said, "You know I've got to get into the building."


I realized that at some point those victims presumed dead would have to be officially pronounced dead. We also needed to impact the fewest number of EMS personnel and that we needed to preserve the integrity of the scene. Looking around I recognized two other senior paramedics that I believed had the experience and training to handle this situation tactically. I told Cassavechia I would bring himself, Paramedic Bernie Meehan, and
Paramedic John Reed into the front of the school, which was secured by that point.

 

[RaceBanyon]

Thank you, Deidre. I stand corrected.