Life Flight Panama
(richarddetrich.wordpress.com) Once in a while we have helicopters in Valle Escondido. One of our neighbors who is developing his own project at Boquete Country Club used to fly in, now he just goes into his own development. We’ve had celebrities - Sam’s “poker buddy” Mel Gibson (only it’s Brad and Marc playing poker with Mel in the photo) - and others who occasionally drop in . . . but this was no ordinary helicopter.
This was Life Flight 1 and was in Boquete to introduce a new emergency medivac service. The helicopter is based in Panama City, so it takes 2 hours to get to Boquete, but the plan is to add another machine in David . . . about 15 minutes flying time from Boquete, and to eventually have four Life Flight choppers in service.
Right now if you had an emergency you would be transported by car or ambulance to a hospital in David, and then once stabilized, the Life Flight service could be used to transport you to Panama City if you needed attention not readily available in David.
The helicopter is equipped with the most modern portable ER equipment, probably better equipped than many hospitals in Panama. Life Flight claims they can be airborne in 3 minutes and the helicopter travels with a physician with special trauma training and an EMT. The chopper is equipped with inflatable pontoons that enable it to land on water as well as land. It is available for ship evacuation as well.
The plan is that the next helicopter will be bigger and have an exterior hoist that can lower an EMT to the site of a crash and hoist a patient on board.
Subscription is $204 for a family which gives you a priority. If you have insurance Life Flight will go after your insurance company, or, if you do not have insurance, they will take care of you. They also offer short term memberships for visitors from 7 to 30 days for $20 to $40. www.lifeflightpanama.com
