Helicopter Facts & Services

Guthrie Air…

• Is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year

• Makes approximately 500 flights per year, or about one and a half flights per day

• Has an average round-trip flight mileage of 70 miles

• Serves a large geographic region that encompasses south-central New York and north-central Pennsylvania

• Is staffed by one EMS specialty pilot, crew members such as a nationally-registered flight paramedic and a critical care flight nurse (there is room for up to three crew members) and carries one patient

• Follows dispatch criteria as established by the American College of Surgeons. Crew members are equipped to handle any kind of trauma and can perform advanced procedures on scene and in flight

• Flights can be transports from an accident scene or interfacility transports

• Carries blood on board and crew members can infuse blood products

• Follows Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), which means the helicopter can fly in any type of weather except icy rain, very heavy snow, heavy fog or lightning.

• Is the only critical care helicopter in the region

Helicopter Services

Guthrie Air provides transport from scenes to the nearest trauma center, as well as interfacility patient transports. On-scene medical personnel decide whether a patient in an emergency/ accident situation warrants air medical transport. This decision is based on factors such as severity of injuries, the person’s odds for survival (versus ground transport), existing health concerns that may increase risk (hemophilia, pregnancy, etc.), the patient's age and general medical condition. The Guthrie Air flight crew offers a wide variety of specialized treatments, such as advanced airway management and invasive line monitoring, that can be performed en route to a medical center. Crew members are certified in advanced cardiac life support, pediatric advanced life support, basic trauma life support, and neonatal resuscitation.

 

Guthrie Air Contact Information

1-800-535-0911 -- Guthrie Communications Center (dispatch for on-scene response or interfacility transport)

(570) 882-4930 -- hangar

(570) 882-4919 -- program director

(570) 882-4936 -- fax