The Nova Scotia Emergency Health Services (EHS) Lifeflight announced a new plane service August 4 that will transfer non-critical care patients from Sydney and Yarmouth to Halifax.

The EHS LifeFlight service has been transporting emergency care patients in their aircrafts since 1996, but this will be the first time non-critical care patients can use this service. The plane will carry two to four patients per trip with three round trips a day.

“It will operate 12 hours per day and it will fly between Halifax and those locations, basically delivering patients who would normally have been transported by our ground ambulance resources,” Colin Flynn, senior manager of EHS LifeFlight says. 

The PAL Aerospace Beechcraft 1900 will transport non-critical care patients in need of appointments with specialists, routine procedures and non emergency surgeries. 

“This aircraft can complete the flight from Sydney Airport to Halifax airport in 45 minutes,” Flynn says.

Paramedics will be able to transport patients faster and increase the number of patients receiving care. Flynn says, patients from Cape Breton often need to stay overnight when traveling by ambulance, with the LifeFlight plane patients will be able to arrive home the same day.

“We'll be able to hopefully eliminate a fair number of those admissions, which then frees up beds for other patients,” Flynn says. 

Flynn says EHS LifeFlight hopes to give paramedics a better work-life balance with less travel time during shifts. 

“We're hoping to have more paramedics off on time and save them from these long drive times and keep them in their communities,” Flynn says. “Which will increase engagement and hopefully increase retention as well.” 

The projected cost of the new service is $5.9 million per year and is expected to increase the amount of trips over time if needed.

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