Modelling optimal location for pre-hospital helicopter emergency medical services

Our analysis used five years of critical care data from tertiary health care facilities, spatial data on origin of transport and accurate road travel time catchments for tertiary centres. A location optimization model was developed to identify where the expansion of HEMS would cover the greatest population among those currently underserved. The protocol was developed using geographic information systems (GIS) to measure populations, distances and accessibility to services.Our model determined Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) was the optimal site for an expanded HEMS – based on denominator population, distance to services and historical usage patterns.GIS based protocols for location of emergency medical resources can provide supportive evidence for allocation decisions – especially when resources are limited. In this study, we were able to demonstrate conclusively that a logical choice exists for location of additional HEMS. This protocol could be extended to location analysis for other emergency and health services.Canadian trauma systems are designed to consolidate patients sustaining severe trauma into a few major trauma centres and distribute the larger volume of less severely injured across smaller, more geographically dispersed acute care facilities [1]. This inclusive system of trauma care provides an integrated network of hospitals of various capabilities to ensure that all populations receive responsive, accessible and appropriate care, that the most severely injured patients receive comprehensive care at high volume trauma centers, and that resources are optimized. Although inclusive trauma systems have been shown to reduce trauma mortality, rural and remote regions still shoulder a disproportionate amount of trauma related death [2,3]. This excess rural mortality suggests that, even within streamlined inclusive trauma systems, patients with life threatening injuries may not have adequate access to high level trauma care. Further reductions in rural trauma mort