SWISS AIR RESCUE SERVICE - HELICOPTER INT ERVENTIONS FOR CHILDREN

In 1992, the Swiss helicopter rescue service (REGA) transported 515 in jured and 141 sick children (total n = 656). More than 60% of the chil dren were boys; the age group from 10 to 16 years dominated. Primary c are was provided in 415 of the flights, whereas the remaining cases we re interhospital transfers to institutions with pediatric intensive ca re units. The main reason for primary interventions was sports acciden ts, followed by medical disease and traffic accidents. The majority of the sick children (70%) were severely ill with life-threatening disea ses according to National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in dices IV to VII. On the other hand, only 47% of the injured children h ad NACA indices of IV to VII. Most of these children had minor injurie s suffered during sports activities; they were rescued mainly because of the site of the accident and not the severity of the injury. The re maining trauma victims had had traffic or home accidents and were usua lly severely injured. Head injuries were the most common reason for in tervention due to accidents, and central nervous disorders and respira tory problems were the main reason for interventions in children suffe ring from serious illnesses. For primary REGA rescue interventions, th e mean time from accident to arrival at the hospital was 64 minutes: 1 8 minutes from injury to alarm, 17 minutes from alarm to arrival at th e scene, and 29 minutes for scene time and flight to the hospital. Cos ts for helicopter rescue are twice as high as for ground-based rescue (ambulance). However, considering the relatively high percentage of se verely injured or life-threatened sick children involved, air rescue a nd its higher costs appear to be justified.