Broke A Leg? Heart Attack? Car Wreck? Now A Third Medevac System Can Airlift Us To A Doctor

New Medevac Company – "Guardian Angels" – Joins Guardian & LifeMed On Call Lists When Someone Is Severely Injured & Requires A Doctor Immediately 

JOURNAL INTERVIEW 

BRIEF SUMMARY OF CURRENT COPPER RIVER MEDICAL SERVICES 

There are currently no doctors serving the Copper River Valley. 

Cross Road Medical Center is open during business hours on weekdays. Cross Road is not open at night or on weekends and offers no after hours emergency services. Cross Road does not accept patients when not open.   

CRNA is open during business hours on weekdays. CRNA is not open at night or on weekends and offers no after hours emergency services. CRNA does not accept patients when not open. 

 Delta Medical Transport Ambulance answers 911 calls throughout the region, 24/7. The ambulance's agreement with Cross Road may end within 8 months. The ambulance does not deliver to CRNA or Cross Road when they are closed on evenings, nights and weekends.

Copper River EMS does not provide ambulance service in the overall valley any more, Kenny Lake EMS does provide limited ambulance service in Kenny Lake and Chitina. 

Medevacs by air are available. Please see the options below. Only very severe injuries, medical problems and potentially lethal medical situations qualify for Medevacs, which are extremely expensive, cannot be ordered by the patient, and must be referred by medical personnel or the Troopers. 

MEDICAL EVACUATIONS FROM THE COPPER VALLEY 

The Copper Valley is moving farther away from self-sufficient medical care. Which makes having a membership to all of Alaska's Medevac services even more important than ever. 

If you are critically ill or seriously injured while in your home or driving around the Copper Valley, 911 can deploy a medical air evacuation to take you to a hospital - if flying conditions allow for safe travel. Medevacs are extremely expensive flights. It's said they can cost $50,000. 

However, for very little money you can buy yourself and your family a membership to one of the Medevac services. The catch is that there are several companies offering air evacuations  and you have no control over which one will be sent to pick you up  so you have to subscribe to all of them to make sure you’re covered, whoever shows up.  

For years there were two services, Guardian and LifeMed. Now a new Medevac helicopter transport system has joined the more established services provided by LifeMed and Guardian.This means you should now get a third membership so your family is covered by all three services, and you will not be charged a huge amount if you need a Medevac. 

COUNTRY JOURNAL STORY ON LIFEMED & GUARDIAN SERVICES

COPPER RIVER EMS LETTER ABOUT LIFEMED & GUARDIAN 

 "GUARDIAN ANGELS" IS NOW AVAILABLE LOCALLY 

The Country Journal spoke on Saturday, July 15th, 2023 with Dane Melvin, the 37-year-old owner of the new group, Guardian Angels,  which works out of Chugiak. 

(First, let’s clarify something — "Guardian Angels" is not "Guardian" medical transport, which has existed for quite a while. Guardian Angels is a 2-year old company that is privately owned and totally independent of the better known Guardian. The name is similar, but it is an entirely different organization.) 

Here's a rundown of the Journal interview with Alaska Guardian Angels, in which he attempted to help clarify how Medevacs work. 

***

Dane Melvin's company grew from his work in fire and EMS services. He's been running his company for several years. Admittedly, Guardian Angel is not that well known yet. But now, it's officially in play. When there's a need for a Medevac, Life Med, Guardian and Guardian Angel are in the lineup of services to call from the Copper Valley 

PROCEDURE

If you have suffered a severe problem, you can't call Guardian Angel (or any Medevac service) directly. In the Copper Valley, the arrival of a plane or helicopter for a Medevac transport to a hospital results from a patient call to 911. 

"Local people can’t call asking for a Medevac," he told the Journal. "Usually it comes from the direction of on-scene paramedics or a doctor at one of the clinics." (If there was a paramedic or doctor available.) 

According to Melvin, the following four organizations can call for a Medevac on your  behalf: 

Cross Road Medical Center, the Copper River Native Association, Delta Transport Ambulance in Glennallen and the Mat-Com (the Wasilla-based 911 Trooper dispatch number).

So, if you need a Medevac you MUST call 911.  "The call goes through the 911 system," explained Dane Melvin. 

***

Then, the most available of the three Medevac services comes to the call. 

"We've done a couple of plane flights out of Gulkana earlier this spring," Melvin told the Country Journal. "And we did a flight in December and another one in January, and another in February as well, out of Gulkana." 

Every Medevac service takes the patient to the closest hospital location. From the Copper Valley, that's usually Mat-Su Regional or a hospital in Anchorage, he said. 

"We have two paramedics on board or sometimes a paramedic and a flight physician. It just depends on the nature of the flights."

WHAT KIND OF PROBLEM WARRANTS A MEDEVAC?

You can be Medevaced only if it's extremely serious. According to Melvin, "Anything that would normally be 'urgent care' is generally something that Delta Medical – from what I understand – will drive into Mat-Su Region for, because it's not severe enough for a Medevac flight." 

Typical Medevac evacuations are for cardiac problems, severe trauma, strokes, and time-sensitive health conditions, he said. 

The cost of membership to the Guardian Angel program is similar to the other companies: $100 covers your household for a year. 

(Note: This is not a recommendation of any of the three Medevac organizations, but an attempt to show what is available to you if you are faced with a serious medical complication and need to be taken by air to a distant hospital for further professional care.) 

Link to Guardian Angel site...

I