Welcome!

Welcome to the Minnesota Air Medical Council website!

Here you will find helpful information about our mission, valuable safety information, Member organizations, and the air medical industry.

The MNAMC is organized and dedicated to discussion, research, support, and collaboration on issues and topics of mutual interest in air medical transport with an emphasis on operational safety, quality clinical care, and other areas of interest.

MNAMC Members; Life Link III, Mayo Clinic Medical Transport, and Sanford AirMed; are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS). CAMTS is a peer-review organization dedicated to improving patient care and transport safety by providing a dynamic accreditation process through the development of standards, education and services that support our vision.

MNAMC Member; North Memorial Air Care is accredited by the National Accreditation Alliance Medical Transport Applications (NAAMTA). NAAMTA is a new accreditation standard bearer for the medical transport industry, offering procedures that include guidelines for developing a quality management system focusing on transport safety, patient care, and continuous improvement.

CAMTSNAAMTA Logos

CAMTSNAAMTA Logos

Sign Up

Sign up below to join the MNAMC Mailing List

January 5, 2012

Winter Helipad Care

During this time of year, with the ever-changing weather conditions, snow and ice can become a safety liability to your institution. This would include driveways, sidewalks and parking lots open to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

One area that can be easily overlooked is your hospital helipad. The helipad should be as clean and dry a surface as you would keep the sidewalks at your hospital. With this in mind, we would like to offer some suggestions and recommendations.

1.         Advise the communications center of your helipad surface condition. (i.e., clean and dry, covered by snow or ice, new obstructions, construction, etc.)

2.         Do not pile snow on the helipad perimeter.  The snow should be pushed off the pad at least 5 feet from the perimeter and no higher than 10 inches.  (Some helicopter tail rotors are only 2 feet above the ground.)

3.                  Do not use salt or sand on your helipad.  The helicopters downdraft (“rotor wash”) will blow the salt or sand around and can cause harm to persons or damage facilities. Salt is also very corrosive to the aircraft and sand is both abrasive and easily ingested into the engines.

There are various Federal Aviation Administration approved products that are an alternative to sodium
chloride and sand. 


                http://www.hjefertilizer.com/IceMelters/ZeroIcePro/  (Zero Ice Ultra)

                http://www.cryotech.com/products/runway.php


4.         As warmer weather and the spring season approach, remove any residual materials from the helipad by sweeping and/or washing the surface.



The Minnesota Air Medical Council does not endorse any one product. However, we encourage you to contact your local air medical program as listed below for further information.


Sincerely,

The Minnesota Air Medical Council