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Tracie Kachar RN E-Mail Opinion on Monroe Michigan Helicopters Regarding
the article: Helicopter draws hostility Source: http://www.monroenews.com/reader_opinion/ Copyright 2004 Monroe Publishing Company. All Rights Reserved Dear Ms. Kachar Thanks for your opinion read around the world on the Monroe Evening News Website. Please be aware that I never have expressed any hostility concerning any helicopter usage. The operation of a non-FAA licensed and regulated heliport did concern me. My questions may have prompted action of the hospital administration's part because the heliport was licensed by the FAA on June 16, 2005 pending the filling out and return of proper forms by the hospital staff. I had stated in a public meeting that the use of helicopter was abused in perhaps four out of five cases. Your superior Daniel L. Wakeman, MMHS chief executive officer of the hospital is quoted in the same article as follows: "Though few dispute that the helicopters save lives, a 1994 study of the response times of helicopters and ground ambulances concluded that activation times, response times and on-scene times for helicopter transports were longer, on average, than ground ambulances. The same study also concluded that helicopters were overused in about 85 percent of transports. " Therefore, Ms. Kachar, I will leave it to you to point out to your hospital administrator that he is wrong concerning abuse of the big bird and you are, as a health care professional and woman of science, correct concernings his opinions on possible abuse. What started this chain of events was my question to Mayor John Iacoangeli in a public council meeting Monday, March 21, 2005 concerning our loss of tax base to Mercy Memorial Hospital and the lack of an FAA approved heliport at the hospital. As follows: Citizen Comments. David Smith, 530 Hollywood, spoke in regard to the hospital’s plans to expand when they choose to not qualify for a legal heliport and asked the City to check into their intentions. He would like to see them move their whole facility onto Stewart Road where it can develop and flourish. Ms. Kachar, I do not see how my comments reflected any hostility whatsoever. The only issue in my question to the Mayor and Council concerned apparent poor planning by the previous administrator and the lack of FAA protection of the airspace needed by helicopter operations. Naturally, I am appreciative of all services of the hospital including air transport if necessary. My life has been saved on two occasions by the emergency room staff and prompt hospitalization for an acute infection. David Alkire Smith NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: This is one of many websites that chronicle the history of Monroe County, Michigan. Like other sites, newspaper accounts and correspondence from readers is invaluable source material to reflect contemporary views on current events. The Monroe Evening News is considered by the web keeper to be an excellent publication achieving good accuracy when reporting issues of community interest. Their policy of permitting readers to write letters to the editor for publication or to have their opinions submitted by E-Mail for publication on the web site is an excellent service to the community. The web keeper cannot insure for liability reasons that the person cited as the writer of letters or E-mails is in fact the author or that they were correctly quoted. To insure historical accuracy, any error shown to be genuine will be correct promptly upon notice to the web keeper. Copyright 2005 All rights reserved
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