WakeMed Receives Approval for Air Ambulance Service
Wake County and Eastern North Carolina Patients to Benefit From Faster Access to Care
RALEIGH, N.C. � WakeMed Health & Hospitals recently received notification that its Certificate of Need (CON) application for an air ambulance has been approved by the North Carolina Division of Facility Services.
WakeMed submitted the CON for the air ambulance on June 15, 2006 shortly after the WakeMed Raleigh Campus earned a Level 1 Trauma designation from the North Carolina Emergency Medical Systems (EMS) Advisory Council. WakeMed Raleigh Campus has provided care for trauma victims since the 1980s, and operates one of the busiest trauma programs in North Carolina.
The air ambulance will primarily serve a nine-county region including Wake, Sampson, Harnett, Wilson, Wayne, Nash, Johnston, Franklin and Lee counties. The air ambulance will benefit stroke, cardiac, neonatal, neurosciences and trauma patients among others who require specialty care as quickly as possible at WakeMed�s tertiary care hospital, WakeMed Raleigh Campus. WakeMed expects to have the air ambulance service operational by the end of 2007. More than 530 flights are projected for the first year.
The air ambulance will be part of WakeMed�s comprehensive Mobile Critical Care Services department. Currently, WakeMed Critical Care Services has 14 vehicles that serve approximately 1,000 critically ill patients each month and is the busiest inter-facility ground transport service in the state. An additional five transport vehicles are slated to be added to the ground fleet by the end of 2007.
On January 2, 2007, J. Edwin (Ed) Woodard, Jr. was named WakeMed Executive Director and Chief of Emergency Response Services. Woodard will oversee WakeMed�s Mobile Critical Care Services, convalescent ambulance service, multi-services communication, Campus Police & Public Safety departments and fleet management. Woodard joins WakeMed after serving as the Vice President and Chief of Emergency Response Services at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC since 2001.
Woodard brings more than three decades of emergency expertise to WakeMed. A member of North Carolina�s first paramedic class, Woodard�s hands-on patient care experience and professional accomplishments have significantly improved the quality and timeliness of care delivered to the residents of New Hanover County and the surrounding region. Prior to New Hanover, Woodard spent 27 years at Guilford County�s Department of Emergency Services where he began as a field medic, and was ultimately named Deputy Director. In this role, Woodard managed the entire county�s EMS division including 911 communication operations for county fire, law enforcement and EMS services.
