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BUFFALO, NEW YORK: May 19, 1999 -- Today, officials from Erie County, the City of Buffalo/Buffalo Fire Department, ECMC, MercyFlight and other associated organizations were on-hand to emphasize the importance of ECMC's new rooftop heliport, and to recognize the Buffalo Professional Firefighters, after whom the heliport is named.
The rooftop location of the new heliport is expected to save lives by reducing patient transport time by five crucial minutes. The first hour after a traumatic injury is referred to as the "golden hour" - a time when minutes count. Until now, trauma patients had been transported by helicopter to a landing pad across the ECMC campus. Patients were then brought by ambulance to the emergency department -- the entry point to Western New York's Regional Adult Trauma Center at ECMC. This cross-campus ambulance trip added five minutes to the time it took to deliver patients to ECMC's emergency department. The new helicopter landing structure now enables the most critically ill or injured patients to be transported directly from the rooftop heliport on the laboratory building to the adjacent emergency department.
The total investment for the rooftop heliport project is $400,000, to benefit the nearly 300 patients landed by helicopter at ECMC each year. The added contributions from one year of Buffalo Firefighter fund-raising activities could total $75,000, to be used to build/purchase such heliport amenities as: an office and helicopter crew quarters; a retractable hangar to provide protection for helicopters during inclement weather; two-way radios for on-site communications, and closed-circuit television cameras for hospital security.
Late last year, County Executive Dennis Gorski asked the Erie County Legislature to name the rooftop heliport in honor of the Buffalo Professional Firefighters. On February 4, 1999, the Legislature, "…as a symbol of the County's everlasting appreciation for the Firefighters' lifesaving contributions and dedicated efforts to raise funds for the heliport project…," granted permanent naming rights of the heliport to the Buffalo Professional Firefighters.
Officials who participate in today's opening ceremonies included: County Executive Dennis Gorski, Mayor Anthony Masiello, ECMC Board Chairman David Rutecki, ECMC Chief Executive Officer Paul Candino, Buffalo Fire Commissioner Cornelius Keane, ECMC Lifeline Foundation President Thomas Haywood, and MercyFlight Chief Executive Officer Douglas Baker. Local 282 President Vincent Gugliuzza spoke in representation of the Buffalo Professional Firefighters. ECMC Chief Operating Officer Sheila Kee was Mistress of Ceremonies. Most Reverend Henry J. Mansell, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, delivered the invocation. Erie County Emergency Medical Services Chaplain Fr. Joseph Bayne, OFM, CONV, blessed the heliport.
Firefighter fund-raising activities/events, including this year's "Fill the Boot" campaign and the "Party at The Pier," set for June 18, have been expanded to include Erie and Niagara County Volunteer Firefighters in addition to those from the City of Buffalo. A year 2000 firefighter calendar will include winning photograph entries from Volunteer Fire Company and City of Buffalo firefighters.
For more information about firefighter fund-raising efforts, contact the ECMC Lifeline Foundation at 716-898-5885.
The Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) Healthcare Network encompasses a growing base of off-campus health centers, an advanced academic medical center with 550 inpatient beds and 156 skilled nursing home beds, and the Erie County Home, a 638-bed skilled nursing facility. The medical center serves as the regional center for trauma, burn, rehabilitation, and is a major teaching facility for the State University of New York at Buffalo. The ECMC Healthcare Network offers exceptional medical care to all area residents, regardless of their ability to pay.
