The newspaper Nya Wermlands-Tidningen states that it has been decided that Värmland County’s new HEMS service will be stationed at a temporary base at Karlstad Airport, moments north of the city. The new ambulance helicopter organization is planned to be operational from mid-2014.

In 2010 Värmland’s County Council decided that the future presence of a regional EMS helicopter had to be ensured, and in November 2012 the Council decided that the region was to have its own aircraft. The need for a helicopter service was raised in 2008, as the current cooperation agreement with the Norwegian HEMS operation in Oslo, held by Norsk Luftambulanse, was terminated due to the Norwegian Ullevål University Hospital’s lack of capacity for Swedish patients. The County Council took the decision to buy an own helicopter in February 2013, and the price was set to a maximum of 60 million Swedish kronor (SEK), approximately €7,2 million EUR.

Recently the procurement process reached a new step as the deadline of the bidding period was passed. Several tenders have been submitted, and the County Council expects to reach a final decision of which helicopter to buy within a few months.

The County Council says that the helicopter will be equivalent to an intensive care unit outside the hospital’s walls. It will be manned with a single pilot together with an anaesthetist/doctor and an “HEMS crew” (a combined nurse and flight-deck crewmember). The region aims to build a permanent HEMS station at Sandbäcken’s Rescue Center in Karlstad, but the project is running late, why the helicopter is expected use Karlstad Airport as a temporary base for the first two years.
Reproduced from Nordic Rotors with permission. Copyright and full responsibility for the content of this article remains with Nordic Rotors