Southwest Mississippi has access to service from four medical helicopters, but the operator of a fifth that had considered adding a base here has changed its mind.
AirEvac Lifeteam has decided not to pursue a new location in McComb, company officials confirmed Wednesday in a move that follows months of discussions and paperwork with city officials.
The issue came up during a McComb city board work session Tuesday, when Selectman At-Large Tommy McKenzie said he heard Southwest Health Systems Chief Executive Officer Norman Price was against Missouri-based AirEvac coming to McComb.
Price said Wednesday that he is not against the move, but he has stipulations he’d like to see met.
Based in West Plains, Mo., AirEvac is the largest membership-supported air ambulance service in the country with more than 100 bases across 15 states. The closest to McComb is Natchez.
At an Aug. 6 work session, AirEvac program director Sandy Netherland-Roberts spoke to city selectmen about possibly adding a base in McComb. She said a perfect plot of land for it is adjacent to Fire Station No. 4 on Parklane Road, and “the deal is 99 percent done. I see no reason why we wouldn’t come here.”
All that was left to do after that meeting was an AirEvac board of trustees vote in favor of the location.
But all that apparently has changed.
According to AirEvac senior director of base development John Markam, the company had considered McComb but has decided not to add a new branch and helicopter to the city “right now.”
He did not give reasons for the change of plans.
“We take a look at a specific area and make sure there’s enough volume and need, and we felt at this time there wasn’t the opportunity there that we were looking for,” Markam said.
Price said he does not understand the need to have his support for a private company moving into the area. Though the helicopter would transport patients to the hospital, the helicopter is not a hospital entity.
“If Dairy Queen moved in down the street, no one would be asking me about it,” he said. “I’m not out here standing on top of the hospital yelling ‘no helicopters,’ but if we’re not having to fund the operation of the helicopter, it’s really none of my business.”
Price, however, told the Enterprise-Journal Wednesday he has three requirements to support of AirEvac adding a base in the city.
Most importantly, he wants patients to be taken to Mississippi hospitals as a first option and out-of-state hospitals as “Plan B.” His one exception was the University of South Alabama Medical Center’s helicopter transporting burn victims to the Mobile, Ala., hospital’s burn unit.
Price noted that a patient with a hip injury was recently transported from Amite County to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge. Price thinks that patient should have been transported to Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center instead and does not want to see that become a pattern, saying it could cost the hospital business.
Hospitals are assigned trauma center designations by meeting criteria from the American College of Surgeons. Each center is given a level from 1 to 3, with 1 being the best-equipped to handle trauma cases. University Medical Center in Jackson is a Level 1 trauma center. Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center is a Level 3 trauma center, which is a typical designation for rural and community hospitals.
While there are often injuries in areas closer to Southwest that must be treated at a Level 1 hospital, they can be stabilized in McComb first, Price said.
Second, Price wants the company to put in writing that it would not now or ever ask for a local subsidy.
“As taxpayers, we’re already subsidizing University (Medical Center),” he said. “With the introduction of (the Affordable Care Act), we’re in the process of evaluating allocation of resources, and we do not have any resources to allocate to a helicopter subsidy.”
Third, he wants the majority of the 15 potential jobs AirEvac would have brought to be local hires within Pike County and not company transfers.
Price also is concerned about the need for another helicopter serving southwest Mississippi. The area has four: University Medical Center, Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, Acadia Vermillion Hospital in Lafayette, La. and University of Southern Alabama.
They all fly in from other places when responding to calls here, and three cross state lines.
McKenzie was hopeful that the new business would bring money to McComb.
“My only motivation is, here’s a business wanting to locate here,” he said. “Economic development — boom.”
Local officials, meanwhile, hope AirEvac has a change of heart. City Administrator Quordiniah Lockley said the company went as far as surveying property and coming up with a lease agreement.
“If they decide tomorrow they want to come here, we’re ready,” Lockley said. “At this point, the conversation is between AirEvac and the hospital.”
