One email can help save a flight nurse's life!

[Diahni]

Greetings Allnurses.com Members:

In the summer of 2005, a dear friend's brother was killed in a medical transport helicopter crash. He was a flight nurse in the prime of his life. Since then, the families of flight nurses who have died in accidents have come together to petition Congress to enact more safety standards. Since December, 2007, 35 people have lost their lives in medical air transport accidents in the US. Meanwhile, I saw on the Transportation Safety Board of Canada's web site, that in Canada, only one life was lost due to medical flight accidents in 2005, the most recent year that was posted. You can help to improve safety standards in the US by writing to your state Representatives to encourage them to vote for this bill. There must be more safety protocols in place to save the lives of nurses, pilots and patients.

You can see the details at the Lib. of Congress web site: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h1201,

but I've also pasted the status of the bill and details below.

Thanks for your attention. Democracy is NOT a spectator sport! Our State Reps really do listen to the citizens of their districts they represent in Washington.

Diahni

(From the Lib. of Congress web site)

10. H.R.1201 : To increase the safety for crew and passengers on an aircraft providing emergency medical services.

Sponsor: Rep Salazar, John T. [CO-3] (introduced 2/25/2009) Cosponsors (2)

Committees: House Transportation and Infrastructure

Latest Major Action: 2/26/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Aviation.

Here's the link to the Lib. of Congress's listing of bills in Congress:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h1201

Here's the actual bill:

:nurse:

Air Medical Safety Act (Introduced in House)

HR 1201 IH

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 1201

To increase the safety for crew and passengers on an aircraft providing emergency medical services.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 25, 2009

Mr. SALAZAR (for himself and Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To increase the safety for crew and passengers on an aircraft providing emergency medical services.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Air Medical Safety Act'.

SEC. 2. INCREASING SAFETY FOR CREW AND PASSENGERS ON AN AIRCRAFT PROVIDING EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES.

(a) Compliance Regulations- Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, a pilot of an aircraft providing emergency medical services shall comply with the regulations in part 135 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, whenever there is a medical crew on board, regardless of whether a patient is also on board.

(b) Implementation of Flight Risk Evaluation Program- Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall initiate, and complete not later than 18 months thereafter, a rulemaking--

(1) to establish a standardized checklist of risk evaluation factors based on Notice 8000.301 issued by the Administration in August, 2005; and

(2) to require pilots of aircraft providing emergency medical service to use the checklist to determine whether a mission should be accepted.

© Comprehensive Consistent Flight Dispatch Procedures- Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall initiate, and complete not later than 18 months thereafter, a collaborative effort with the air medical community--

(1) to establish performance-based flight dispatch procedures for pilots of aircraft providing emergency medical services; and

(2) to develop a method to measure compliance with those procedures.

(d) Improving the Data Available to NTSB Investigators at Crash Sites-

(1) STUDY- Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall complete a feasibility study of requiring flight data and cockpit voice recorders on new and existing aircraft providing emergency medical service operations. The study shall address, at a minimum, issues related to survivability, weight, and financial considerations of such a requirement.

(2) RULEMAKING- Not later than 30 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall complete a rulemaking to require flight data and cockpit voice recorders on board aircraft providing emergency medical service operations.

END