On September 4, 1994, “Christoph Regensburg” took up his duties and landed for the first time at the University Hospital Regensburg (UKR). Thus, the most modern helicopter type H 145 for 25 years an indispensable part of the emergency medical care in Bavaria.
Especially in the areas of competence night flight and ECMO transports (mobile heart-lung machine), the station is a pioneer. The anniversary was today celebrated as part of a ceremony with invited guests and a symposium on air rescue, on 03 October 2019, the population is invited to an open day at the air rescue station at UKR.
A few days ago, a 62-year-old man wakes up in the early morning with pain in the left chest and wakes his wife. Shortly thereafter, he is unconscious, his wife sets off the distress call and begins under telephone guidance of the Landshut control center with the Laienreanimation. Eight minutes later, the ground-based rescue service arrives and takes over. This shows a ventricular fibrillation, which the rescue service tries to treat, inter alia, using a defibrillator. All measures are unsuccessful, so that at around 5:00 am “Christoph Regensburg” is alerted for a so-called ECMO deployment (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) during ongoing resuscitation. In the dark, the crew, consisting of a pilot, an emergency paramedic and an experienced ambulance, set off together with a perfusionist. Thanks to the cooperation with the fire department, which illuminates the landing site, the crew lands in the shortest time directly next to the residential building on the street. Within a few minutes, the life-saving ECMO is routinely applied to the lifeless patient’s systemic circulation. From this point on, the mobile heart-lung machine takes over the human cardiovascular function, ie the vital supply of the blood with oxygen as well as its transport to the vital organs. At 6.00 o’clock the patient has a cycle again and swallows on his own. So stabilized, the man is prepared for transport and flown to the UKR. In the hospital confirmed the suspicion of a serious heart attack.
Thanks to the optimally functioning rescue chain as well as the special medical and flying expertise of the Regensburg crew, the patient could be provided with the best possible care: no other DRF Luftrettung station performs as many ECMO missions as the Regensburger – the highly complex procedure has already been completed 27 times in the first half of 2019 applied. Medically excellent is the fact that all emergency physicians trained as specialists in anesthesia in cardiac anesthesia and trained by the daily handling of heart-lung machines are well-versed, together with a cardiologist, the mobile ECMO even in an emergency safely create one Competence, which is unique in Germany so far in air rescue.
Due to the 24-hour readiness of “Christoph Regensburg” the quick help was also possible in the early morning hours. Since 2011, the station relies on night vision goggles in the dark. The number of nocturnal rescue missions has meanwhile increased to around 20 percent. “This rescue report shows that only through optimal collaboration and medical and technological advances can we protect what is unique and irreplaceable: every human life,” he says. Krystian Pracz, Chairman of the DRF Foundation Luftrettung gemeinnützige AG, “Our special thanks go out to all local partners for the very good cooperation over the last 25 years.”
“We are very happy that the DRF Luftrettung has been our permanent partner for 25 years, so that today we not only celebrate our 25th birthday, but also, so to speak, a silver wedding. The DRF Luftrettung is an important partner, not only in primary emergency operations, but also in the secondary transport of critically ill patients who need to be moved from one clinic to another for optimal care, whether during the day or at night. Here in the eastern Bavarian region, the air rescue not only enables a complete rescue chain in emergencies, but also allows us, the University Hospital Regensburg, to optimally perform our task as the only maximum care provider in this region and to transport and care for severely injured and severely ill patients quickly and competently. In this respect, I also hope for a golden and diamond wedding between the UKR and the DRF Luftrettung “, Prof. Dr. med. Bernhard Graf, Director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Deputy Medical Director of the University Hospital Regensburg.