Emergency Airlift Protocol in Question in Indiana

A Greenwood woman whose daughter died following an accident on Ind. 45 two years ago is seeking to change local protocol for requesting medical air transport.

Erica Huckleberry, 19, was headed home on Jan. 9, 2004, after dropping some things off at her dorm at Vincennes University.

Her blue Saturn crossed the center line on Ind. 45 shortly after 7 p.m., striking another vehicle head-on just west of Airport Road.

Emergency workers spent 45 minutes freeing Huckleberry from the wreckage, after which she was taken by ambulance to Bloomington Hospital, her mother, Sandy Huckleberry, said.

The teen was later transported to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis by Lifeline helicopter, but died en route of complications from brain-stem injuries, her mother said.

To this day, Huckleberry questions why her daughter wasn't flown to the Indianapolis hospital earlier.

"Why did it take her so long to get to the hospital?" her mother asked. "Why was she not Lifelined to Methodist immediately?"

Researching Erica's case, she discovered local EMTs and paramedics are not authorized to request a medical transport by air.

Rather, the decision is up to local physicians.

Bloomington Hospital spokeswoman Jonna Risher said in such situations, paramedics and emergency medical technicians act as the eyes and ears for local doctors.

At all trauma scenes, Bloomington Hospital Ambulance Service paramedics and EMTs are in direct communication with the hospital's emergency department and physicians, she said.

"It's their job in the field to assess and communicate the patients' well-being directly to the E.D. and physicians as quickly as possible," Risher said.

The goal for emergency service workers is to get a patient to a controlled environment where he or she can be stabilized and fully assessed, she said.

If a physician believes a patient requires air transport to another facility, it will be discussed with other physicians and air transport will be ordered, Risher said.

That's always been the protocol at Bloomington Hospital, and it isn't likely to change because it's served the hospital well, she said.

Steve Johnson, director of Lifeline, said protocol for requesting a medical flight is up to the local emergency service agency or hospital.

His organization can assist with training for emergency personnel and does offer some tips on when calling in air transport might be necessary -- in the case of a person who fell from a height of more than 20 feet or suffered a serious cardiac event, for instance, he said.

"But it's ultimately their decision," he said.

Jon Mills, public affairs manager with Clarian Health Partners, which includes Methodist Hospital, said Lifeline helicopters responded to about 10 calls to Monroe County in 2004.

Lifeline helicopters were dispatched for transport about 1,450 times in 2003 within the organization's 150-mile radius coverage area, he said.

"We go wherever," Mills said. "If we're called, we go."

A 2000 survey by the Association of Air Medical Services showed the average cost for an air transport is between $ 2,600 and $ 6,150, depending on issues such as distance flown, weather and fuel prices.

Huckleberry said she hopes that, by sharing Erica's story, local protocol will change and emergency personnel will be allowed to make the call for air transport.

Two years after her daughter's death, it's still hard to believe she's gone, Huckleberry said.

Erica was only three weeks from turning 20. She loved kids and was studying to be a social worker.

She was dating a boy she met at a college concert. "It was love at first sight," Huckleberry recalls.

While there's no way of knowing if Erica might have lived, Huckleberry can't help but wonder if even a few hours more would have allowed her to say goodbye to her daughter.

"I want this changed so this doesn't happen to anybody else," she said.

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