TOLEDO, Ohio — Mercy Health announced the addition of a new helicopter to its Life Flight Network in northwest Ohio Wednesday, which will be stationed specifically in Perrysburg during the total solar eclipse.
According to a press release, a AugustaWestland AW119 Koala EMS helicopter was added to the fleet and will operate out of the Mercy Health Life Flight base in Wauseon at the Fulton County Airport. The model is lighter weight, providing the helicopter with additional options for landing sites and allowing it to potentially land closer to where EMS crews are responding to emergencies.
"We're excited to grow our fleet with the addition of this single-engine helicopter, which is specifically designed to support our local EMS agencies where they need it most," said Doug Wattoff, president and director of flight operations at Mercy Health, in a press release. "Its light weight and rock-solid dependability make it well suited to land in unimproved terrain, including fields, back roads, or anywhere its mission takes it."
Each transport will be staffed by a pilot, a skilled critical care nurse and either an emergency physician or highly-trained critical care paramedic, Mercy Health said.
Air medical transportation is especially needed when injured persons are at a significant distance from a nearby hospital, such as in rural areas. Life Flight could be used during the total solar eclipse on April 8, when increased traffic could make it difficult for EMS crews to get to their destination. Wattoff said Mercy Health plans to increase their coverage on the day of the eclipse to in the event of emergencies.
"We're going to have this (new) helicopter out at Perrysburg Hospital, we'll probably also have something down toward the Lima area, we'll also have (Life Flight) on standby in the Fulton County area," he told WTOL 11. "Predominately just in the event that there's traffic and something goes on in that area so we can get folks into St. V's."
Wattoff said the health care system's April 8 logistics are part of plans to keep the community safe.
"Our job is to be prepared for almost everything, and we enjoy doing it. We want to be there for our community in the event that they need us.
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