By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal

A couple dozen people were treated to a great view of Salina and the soft landing of a LifeTeam air ambulance helicopter Thursday morning.

The practice run for the new helipad atop the $56 million patient tower at Salina Regional Health Center went well, said Jack Hinnenkamp, the Salina Regional vice president of facilities.

The trial run was necessary to make sure the helipad and safety equipment performed as planned, he said.

Hospital officials left the windy roof with a short list of minor procedural adjustments to make, but they were confident the new pad will work.

"A lot of it was just orientation. We think this is the best option for us, with the new patient tower," Hinnenkamp said.

Helicopters currently land on a helipad at street level, just west of the hospital. Landing roughly 90 feet above ground allows for "multiple glide paths," he said.

The helipad received high marks from Newton-based LifeTeam.

"It was really windy, but this is a great pad," said pilot Tom Wheatley, Emporia, after landing.

Any rooftop is better for landing than the ground level, he said, "because of wind turbulence and gusts. The wind up here is undisturbed."

The large red pad with a white X is highly visible from the air, said Salina native Dave Owen, flight paramedic on the three-person crew, which is based in Emporia.

"Access is good to the hospital," Owen said.

Pat Rackley, Salina Regional director of emergency services, rolled a gurney from the hospital door up a ramp to the helicopter, where Owen and flight nurse Karen Larsen, Peabody, loaded on their gear for a dry run to the emergency department on the ground floor.

In a real situation, Larsen said, "We'll go to the ER, package the patient and come back up." Packaging means preparing the patient for flight.

That process typically takes 30 minutes.

The helipad is expected to be put into use within a month, and the hospital will be completely moved into the new building sometime in December or January, hospital spokeswoman Beth Vinson said.

The landing pad met the approval of Tim Rogers, Salina Airport Authority executive director, who attended the exercise with number of construction workers working on the project.

"They've done a great job. They've taken the helipad design standards and applied them," Rogers said.

LifeTeam, based in Newton with helicopters in Emporia, Hutchinson, and Dodge City, and fixed wing air ambulances in Great Bend and Wichita, is in negotiations with Salina Regional to base a helicopter at the hospital, said Mike Johnson, medical operations director.

"Our business model is to be where the patients are at," he said.

Plans are to dock the helicopter on the patient tower roof, Johnson said, and rent hangar space at Salina Municipal Airport for maintenance and storage during bad weather.

Hinnenkamp said the hospital has received a proposal from LifeTeam, "but nothing is resolved at this time."

A helicopter in Salina would cut the flight time to Wichita or Kansas City hospitals in half. Helicopter flights to Wichita take about 36 minutes, Johnson said, which will help patients reach their destination within the critical "golden hour."

Statistics show that if a critically ill or injured patient gets the proper care within an hour, their survival is "drastically increased," Johnson said.

LifeTeam sees a need, he said, despite the pullout last year of Wichita-based EagleMed air ambulance service. EagleMed based a helicopter in Salina from June 2004 to March last year. Company officials said they were losing money averaging 18 flights a month, when 24 were needed to break even.

Johnson said LifeTeam aims to "help this region with their medicine. We really believe it's going to be a successful base for us.

He said the firm is already in the process of "securing" a helicopter for Salina.

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.