‘Flying Emergency Room’ Takes a Bow at Its 5th Birthday Party

Each had experienced a catastrophe--an Upland boy stricken with a liver infection, a Moorpark girl who fell deathly ill from the effects of Reyes syndrome, a Los Angeles woman injured in an auto accident 6,000 miles from home.

They also had something in common. Each was rescued with the help of MedStar, UCLA Medical Center’s emergency air medical facility.

And Friday, the three recovered victims joined about 20 others at MedStar’s fifth anniversary party and patient-crew reunion.

“What we’re trying to get away from is the ‘throw and go’ image of helicopters in Vietnam . . . throw someone on board and fly away,” spokesman J. Timothy Fives said. “What we supply is a continuity of care, taking the resources of the hospital into the community.”

Among the guests was a representative of state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), who co-sponsored legislation that enables medical helicopters to set down in areas designated by local authorities as emergency landing sites if no licensed helipad is available.

On Call 24 Hours a Day

MedStar, one of about 160 members of the American Society of Hospital-Based Emergency Air Medical Services, is one of only a few that routinely carries a physician on board. The 24-hour-per-day “flying emergency room,” as it is called, uses helicopters, jets and propeller-driven planes. Patients may be airlifted from an accident scene to a hospital or flown from one hospital to another for specialized treatment.

“It saved our life on numerous occasions,” said Diane Sumner, gazing at her 5-year-old son, Chris. “We’re frequent fliers, aren’t we Chris?” she joked.

Chris flew aboard MedStar’s helicopter from Upland to UCLA Medical Center three times in 1986 and 1987, twice for liver treatment and once for a liver transplant.

“He’s so much better now,” she said.

Even four years later, Lloyd Thomas still marvels at how quickly MedStar flew his daughter Shannon from a Westlake hospital to UCLA Medical Center after she lost consciousness due to Reyes syndrome, a liver malfunction.

“This (UCLA) was the only place that could give her the service she needed,” Thomas said. “My doctor was still talking to UCLA on the phone when they were landing.”

Shannon, then 13 months old, is now a healthy 5 year old.

Rebecca Schwaner, 43, spoke of how she was driving near the town of Girona, Spain, earlier this year when she and a friend were broadsided by another car. Her friend was killed, and Schwaner suffered fractured hips, six fractures in her face and broken ribs.

She phoned a friend in Los Angeles, pleading, “You have to get me out of here.” The friend contacted MedStar, which dispatched a nurse on a commercial flight to Spain.

The nurse supervised the removal of four seats from the first-class section of a return flight so Schwaner could lie supine.

“A frame had to be built in that space and then the stretcher was slipped into the frame,” Schwaner said. “We had to change planes in New York and build the same frame. She (nurse Randy Sanoff) was incredible.”

While medical insurance covers the transportation costs of most MedStar patients, Schwaner had to pay $21,000 out of her own pocket, most of it, she said, to cover the price of the airline tickets for herself and the nurse.

Still grateful, Schwaner made a medal for Sanoff that says, “Girona to UCLA, March 17-20.”

“It’s something she can show her grandchildren,” Schwaner said.