SR-701-004 (6)
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Councll Office
Councll Meeting
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CER:svc
of August
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13, 1985
Santa Monica, California
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AUG 1 3 1985
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Council Members
Mayor Christlne E. Reed ~~
Hellcopter Landings at Santa Monica Hospital
I recommend that we lnstruct staff to prepare the necessary informatlon
to enable us to ban the regular landlng of helicopters at Santa Monlca
Hospital.
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AU6 1 3 1985
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CN:LCE:dvrn
C~ty Counc~l Meet~ng 8/13/85
Santa MonIca, CalIfornIa
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Staff
SUEJECT: Helicopter Landings at Santa Monica Hospital
Introduction
During the past month there hes been a sIgnIfIcant increase in
the number of helIcopter landings in the streets adJacent to
Santa Nonica Hospl tal for transport of crl tlcally III patients.
This increase has caused serIOUS concern to the hospital
neighbors as well as to the CIty'S safety services who must be
redeployed from their patrols In other areas of the City to
cordon off the streets to stcp traffIc. ~hIS report sUMrearizes
the inCIdents to date as well as provIdes an update on actions
agreed to by the hOspItal edwinlstration to address CIty
concerns.
Backgrour-d
Police and hospi tal records Indicate a total of 5 helIcopter
transports since July 10, 1985. PrIor to that, records show one
such transport in November 1984 and one on May 27.
These
emergency transports have occurred at various times throughout
the day and night.
Patients have ranged from premature Infants
to the most recent lifeguard WIth spInal inJurIes. Landings are
usually placed on 16th Street near the emergency entrance.
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Due to the increased frequency of the landings, a police report
was taken at the last lancIng on August 7 a1 though no ci tatlon
has yet been f~led.
Summary of Issues
The Clty is concerned about the increasIng number of flights that
contInue to be handled on an emergency basis. There has been no
apparent change in emergency events to explaIn the deviation from
the past norm. This not only puts a draIn on sworn personnel
resources but Increases the liability of the City, by in effect,
sanctioning an unauthorIzed heliport. Recent conversations WIth
both Caltrans and the FAA have confirmed the City's position that
a permIt from C2lTrans should be obtaIned for these landings in
addItion to necessary local approvals. The process for obtaInIng
these permits would Include envIronmental review and opportunity
for publIC comment.
In addItion to the neceSSIty for instItutIng formal procedures to
handle such le.ndings, the City feels that use of City streets
cannot contInue to be permitted except in the event of maJor area
disasters. Concerns include resulting noise, traffIC congestIon
and public health and safety. The hospItal has been advised to
seek a 1 terna tI ve landIng 81 tes; that the publ ic streets can no
longer be used. As a first step, the Santa I'ionica Airport has
been designated as a future landIng 51 te. The hasp 1 tal WIll
pursue other optIons, such as the fIeld at Lincoln Jr. High
School.
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At a meeting on August 9, hospItal acrr.lnlstrators met wlth Mayor
Reed and the CIty Nanager' s staff to discuse these e.s well as
other pollcy changes.
The hospital has agreed to the follovllng interim measures while
both sides proceed with instItuting a formal policy and procedure
for helicopter transport:
1) The hospi tal will not rece i ve any patients by air.
HelIcopters will be diverted to UCLA (which has a heliport)
or other approprIate facility.
2) Arrangements will be made wlth the Santa Monica AIrport for
future landings.
3) Hosp~ tal emergency rDom staff will ut~lize more dIscretIon
when requestIng air transport to remove patients from the
hcspi tal. In addl tlon, they \'l111 adv ise ground ambulance
units en route to the hospItal to divert the patient to
another taCIl i ty if they fee 1 that they may not be able to
handle the partIcular emergency.
4) The hospItal WIll send a letter to adJacent neighbors
explaining the 81 tuatlon and giving them a phone number to
call if they have questIons or additional concerns.
Summary
The hospi tal and C1 ty staffs "'111 continue to work closely on
this lssue to arrIve at a more acceptable arrangement for
emergency patient transport that takes into account the impact of
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such transport on adJacent residentIal neighborhoods; City safety
personnel resources; publIC liabIlity; and traffIC condItions.
Prepared by: Lynne C& Barrette, ASsIstant City Maneger
(helicopt)
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15 Am; 12 A8 :28
William F. IIIe1ngarOen
1234 Seventeenth Street
Santa Monica.. CA 90404
August 12.. 1985
John Ja1111
Ci ty Manager
Santa Monica C1ty Hall
1685 Main Street
Santa Monlca, CA 90401
Dear Mr. Jali1!:
I have reviewed the August 7 letter to you from Santa Monica Hasp! tal
Hedical Center' s Planning Consul tant dealing .i th helicopter patient
transportation as well as its August 8 addendum. I would like to offer
the following comments as one who 1s a residential communi ty leader 1n
the realm of hospi tal developmental issues.. a member of Santa Monica
Nid-Ci ty Neighbors' s SHHHC Haster Plan Negotiating Team, and an area
resit1ent living w1thin one hundred yards of the Hospital's Emergency
Room:
Several of the helicopter transport cases discussed oy Ms. Rauscher
(~ 27. July 14,. and Auqust 7) involved accident/trauma victims Who
were transported by air to other insti tutions due to the inadequacy of
SMHMC's facilities for their treatment. Ms. Rauscher neglects to
mentlon-tnat these patients lfIere apparently originally transported to
SMHMC by ground, not air.. from the accident si tes. In tnese s1 tuations
the Hospital functioned essentially as a glorified ground-to-air
connection depot. With twenty-twenty hindsignt it can Clearly be seen
that these patients nad no business coming to SMHMC in the first place
and 1n fact would ~ave been better off had they been transported
directly from the scene of the accident to a Levell Trauma Center such
as UCLA (a teaching hospital with a helipaO) either oy ground or by
air. Clearly a more efficient system of dealing 11.11 th the dispos1 tion
of ace ident/trauma victims (which.. after all,. is the ul t imate goal of
the county Trauma Center Program) Is needed, botn for the safety of
patients as well as to eliminate unnecessary helicopter landings and
taKeoffs in the residential neighborhood WhiCh surrounds the
Hospital.
In another case.Lll11y LDL-.thp. rfp.(!1~1nn fpT helicopter transport was
based upon a laCK Of available ground tra spor-t"vehicles at the time_
For an Emergency Room of the nigh c l1ber of Santa Monica's;
particularly one which is about to be designated a Rural Trauma
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Center, the absence of a readily-available ambulance for emergency
patient transport at any time is inexcusable. Uncler no circumstances
should helicopter transportation function as a mere subst1 tute for an
ambulance simply because poor systems management has failed to ensure
the reacly presence of the latter in a time of need. Agaln a potential
disservice to the pat ient exi sts: Under normal cond! tions, a patient
can probably tie delivered more quickly to UCLA by a .,aiting ambulance
than by a helicopter, Due to tf1e extra length of time involveD to maKe
necessary arrangements for the helicopter' s presence and landing_
Still another case (July 18) involved the delivery of an AIDS patient
to, rather than from, Santa Monica Hospital. This instance, at 1:30
A. M _ in the middle Of the night, is unfathomalHe at best and
reprehensible at worst. The aeclsion to transport SUCh a patient to
SHHHC, When UCLA Medical Center not only is one Of the major AIDS
research centers in the area but also is legitimately (unlike SNHMC1 a
receiving nospltal for air transports with a he11pad and 1s equally
close if not Closer to Henry Mayo by air, is incomprehensible. And for
the helicopter to remain on tne ground for over a hal f-an-hour after
cleli vex 1ng the patient pri or to departing, so that those few wi thin a
several blOCK raDius of the Hospi tal for'tl.mate enough to have rElturneO
to Sleep were reawakened, is inexplicable.
1 am sure that helicopters are not employed friVOlously by SMHMC;
however ~ there 1 s a great deal Of ground bet bleen frt vol it Y anO
genuinely unavoidable emergency. Reflecting upon Ms. RauSCher's
letters~ 1 t is unclear to me that even one of these cases legi timately
fall s into the lat ter category.
I can assure you that these helicopter landings and takeoffs are not
being regardeo friVolOUSly by the neighborhoOd. A variety Of methods
for dealing w1 th this ongoing rash of helicopter nuisances have been
di scussed recently tly area residents. inclUding an appeal to the Ci ty
for relief as well as possible legal act10n.
One-Of my neighbors was told 1n a recent phone conversation with the
pOlice that one snould expect helicopter noise if one lives near a
hospital. This of course 1s preposterous--one expects ambulance
noise if one lives near a hospital: one should expect helicopter noise
only 1 f one Ii ves near an airport.
for Ms. RaUSCher to refer to the Hospital neighbors as having been
"inconvenienced" by frequent helicopter noise 1s an understatement.
These occurrences are not merely diminiShing the quality Of our
residential life; they are destroying it altogether. I am certain
that you recall the great numtler of resiDents from this portion of the
ci ty who expressed their concern about the Hasp1 tal helicopter
situation during the LUCE hearings before the City Council last
summer. The 51 tuat10n 1s wor se now than ever before.
SNHMC is requesting that we lIJorK with them as they ale willing to work
wltn us, yet they have yet to eviaence any intent10n whatsoever Of
working with the neightlOrhooO on this particular issue. over a year
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ago the Hospi tal proposed the installat ion Of a helipad (one of their
officials at the time assured area residents at a MtO-City community
Meeting that its realization would result in only two or three
landings per year; we can nOIJJ see from recent experience that tlJJO or
three times a week wou 1d be more like it). Last December 15
negotiators from M1d-Ci ty put a proposal on the table that the
Haspi tal · s Naster Plan to oe suOmi tted to the Ci ty under POlicy 1.13.1
of the Land Use Element contain a provision that no he1ipad be
installed during the balance of tnis century_ Eight months later
Mid-City has yet to receive even a fragment of a response to this
proposal from SMHMC.
I understand that the Council has a Oi scuss 10n item on thi s matter on
Tuesday night I s agenda; I expect to be in attendance. I hope that you
w1l1 feel free to share this letter wi th the councilmembers 1 f you deem
it appropriate.
Slnce Santa Monica Hospital apparently feels unable or unwilling to
accommodate in this regard the needs of the residential neighborhood
in which it is situated, I hope that your office and/or the Council
l.lIi11 intervene to eliminate this intrusive imposition upon the lives
of the ci t lzens Of my communi ty. '
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william f. Jeingarc1en
Member,
tl1d-Ci ty Board
t11d-Ci ty SNHNC Negotiating Team
cc: RObert Myers
O. Kenyon l,JIebster
Leonard LaBella, Jr.
Pat rlcia A. Rauscher