{"id":5619,"date":"2024-10-31T08:26:02","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T08:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finnhems.fi\/helicopter-emergency-medical-services\/"},"modified":"2025-06-18T09:32:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T09:32:40","slug":"helicopter-emergency-medical-services","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/finnhems.fi\/en\/our-operations\/helicopter-emergency-medical-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Helicopter emergency medical services"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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HEMS \u2013 Helicopter Emergency Medical Services<\/h1>
\r\n HEMS is an internationally used abbreviation for Helicopter Emergency Medical Services. <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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HEMS \u2013 Helicopter Emergency Medical Services<\/h1>
\r\n HEMS is an internationally used abbreviation for Helicopter Emergency Medical Services. <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\n\n\r\n
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FinnHEMS’s most important task is to provide high-quality emergency medical services in sudden and life-threatening situations as part of the emergency medical care chain. FinnHEMS\u2019s broad operational range and rapid response capability ensure that citizens have equal access to emergency medical services.<\/p>\n

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Always on call<\/h3>\n

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FinnHEMS’s helicopters and on-call crew are on standby around the clock for immediate departure. The helicopter crew usually consists of an emergency physician, a HEMS paramedic or a HEMS rescuer, and a pilot.<\/p>\n

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All of FinnHEMS’s medical helicopter units are alerted to their tasks using a response time model. In the model, the Erica emergency response centre system automatically alerts the FinnHEMS unit that can reach the patient the fastest, regardless of the borders of the wellbeing services counties.<\/p>\n

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TOP 5 reasons for emergency calls<\/h2>\n

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  1. Unresponsiveness\/resuscitation<\/li>\n
  2. Road traffic accident<\/li>\n
  3. Unconsciousness<\/li>\n
  4. Falls<\/li>\n
  5. Stroke<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n
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    Special expertise is delivered to the patient<\/h3>\n

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    The primary task of the helicopters is to deliver care as quickly as possible to the patient.<\/p>\n

    The medical helicopter team specialises in treating severely injured and ill patients.<\/p>\n

    Units are most commonly dispatched to patients who are unresponsive or injured in traffic accidents. In most cases, the cause of unresponsiveness is a heart or brain event.<\/p>\n

    The units operate over a wide geographical area and therefore have strong experience with these patient groups. The patient is usually transported to the hospital for further treatment by ambulance, accompanied by an emergency physician from the FinnHEMS unit.<\/p>\n

    There has been a significant increase in patient transport by helicopter in recent years, and this upward trend will be incorporated into the future strategy of medical helicopter services.<\/p>\n

    Helicopters allow specialised expertise to be brought directly to the scene, even over long distances. Additionally, the units are equipped with tools and treatment methods not available to other emergency response units. In general, FinnHEMS units perform medical procedures similar to those conducted in the initial phase of intensive care in a hospital. Intubation, or securing the airways with a breathing tube, and the initiation of mechanical ventilation are among the most common procedures carried out by the medical units.<\/p>\n

    In Finland, the majority of emergency medical care patients can be reached by helicopter within 30 minutes of the emergency call.<\/p>\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n

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    Direct transport to the most appropriate treatment facility<\/h3>\n

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    Helicopters can be used to transport severely injured patients directly to the most appropriate place of treatment. The medical helicopter can also quickly reach patients in areas that would take too long to reach by car, such as islands, wilderness areas, and other hard-to-reach locations.
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    High-quality emergency medical care reduces costs<\/h3>\n

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    Because the emergency care of the most severely injured patients is centralised to medical helicopter teams, their expertise is different from that of other emergency medical care units. These teams have solid routines and specialised knowledge in treating emergency patients, a capability developed through serving a large population.<\/p>\n

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    Advice and support in the field<\/h3>\n

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    A special feature of Finnish helicopter emergency medical services is that the on-call emergency physician frequently provides phone consultations and advice. Each year, base physicians offer around 20,000 consultations to emergency medical personnel over the phone.<\/p>\n

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    Internationally recognised activities<\/h3>\n

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    Finland’s HEMS activities are at the top level internationally in many respects.
    \nThe physicians working in the medical helicopters are mainly specialists in anaesthesiology and intensive care who have years of experience in out-of-hospital emergency care.<\/p>\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n

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    […]<\/p>\n

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