DHART Enhances Service in Southern NH Region
After nearly two years of planning, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advanced Response Team (DHART) is pleased to announce that one of its two helicopters, along with a full crew, will be based in a private hangar at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport beginning in late July. One helicopter will continue to be based at DHMC. DHART’s two ground transport vehicles will remain based in Lebanon at DHMC.
"Out-basing" a helicopter in Manchester will provide faster response times to the largest population centers in New Hampshire. Faster response times mean that critically ill or injured patients will arrive sooner at the closest appropriate hospital, setting the stage for better outcomes. Having a second base also means DHART helicopter response will not be limited by the weather conditions in a single location.
Approximately 80-85 percent of DHART’s critical care patient transport services are from one hospital to another. The rest are "scene calls," primarily motor vehicle accidents. DHART crews provide transportation services throughout Northern New England and transport seriously ill or injured patients to the closest Trauma Center in the region's five states.
In 15 years of service, DHART has transported over 15,000 patients:
| Total Emergency Air Transports: 10,631 Inter-Hospital 7,548 | Total Emergency Ground Transports: 4,835 Inter-Hospital 2,714 |
The total DHART team of about 60 includes Communications Specialists, Flight Nurses, Flight Paramedics, Respiratory Care Practitioners, EMTs, Pilots, and Airframe and Power Plant Mechanics. Operating 24 hours a day and seven days a week, DHART crews transport adult, pediatric and neonatal patients to any appropriate medical facility in New England. Aviation services are provided by Metro Aviation, Inc., a company that is authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration to provide pilots, mechanics and aircraft for critical care transportation services like DHART. DHMC owns one of the helicopters and leases the second from Metro Aviation.
Established July 1, 1994, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advanced Response Team (DHART) is currently based at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire's only verified Level I Adult Trauma Center and the only verified Pediatric Level I Trauma Center in Northern New England. DHART operates two American Eurocopter EC 135 aircraft. The EC135 represents the latest in aviation technology allowing DHART to meet the mission of providing care and transport to critically ill and injured patients anywhere in Northern New England. DHART was the first program in New England to use Night Vision Goggles to enhance mission safety.
