DERAMUS: WASHINGTON CO. EMS HELICOPTER LANDING IN CYPRESS ‘PRECAUTIONARY’
The Washington County EMS medical helicopter made an unanticipated landing last week, but the agency says the landing was “precautionary.”
KPRC of Houston reported that the helicopter was taking a burn patient to a Memorial Hermann hospital Thursday night when it had to land at the Dan Jones Airport in Cypress. The landing, according to Washington County EMS Director Kevin Deramus, was made shortly after 9:30 p.m.
Deramus says the decision by Metro Aviation, who operates the Air 1 helicopter, to land “was made with their routine operating guidelines to evaluate a possible maintenance issue.” He says all crew members were “safe and unharmed.”
Deramus says the helicopter was returned to service the following morning after a full evaluation did not discover anything of concern.
According to Deramus, the patient was being transported from Baylor Scott & White in College Station to Memorial Hermann when the helicopter had to make the landing. The patient was transferred to a Hermann Life Flight helicopter. No further information on the patient could be provided.
Glad everyone was safe.
However, did the patient, or patients insurance get billed for the Washington County flight, or did the County not bill and let the taxpayers flip the bill for a hospital-to-hospital transfer outside of Washington County? Avgas isn’t cheap. I’m certain the crew got paid. Who paid them? What account did it come from? Why is a County funded Helicopter doing hospital-to-hospital transfers outside of Washington County? $100,000 a month for taxpayers of Washington County seem like a good reason to have it available for Washington County residents! The only logical answer would be if the patient was a Washington County Resident.
My guess is they are shopping it around to whoever will book a flight to help recoup any losses the taxpayers will be on the hook for. This creates the problem of taxpayers funding a helicopter they can’t even use because it’s serving others. It could also be part of a plan to expand the number of helicopters.