Glenwood Springs, CO ColoradoGLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. Valley View Hospital opened its new helipad Tuesday morning and about two hours later sent out its first patient to St. Mary’s Hospital.A CareFlight helicopter from St. Mary’s in Grand Junction landed in a flurry of snow churned up by its rotors at about 11:30 a.m. to celebrate the opening of the pad. According to hospital spokeswoman Dee Warwick, the crew members of the helicopter had just finished their lunch and were preparing to return to Grand Junction when Valley View staff told them they had a patient who had a critical need to be transferred to St. Mary’s.”Earlier in the day we had another (critical) patient who had to be driven by ambulance to St. Mary’s,” Warwick said. “The patient transport had not been scheduled in advance and the helicopter’s presence was a stroke of luck for the patient.”The helipad marks a big step up in the level of care offered by Valley View. In order to meet the prescribed standard of care for the lab, critical patients need to be transferred to a hospital that can perform cardiac surgery within 60 minutes, said chief clinical officer Deb Wiepking.

Valley View does not have a cardiac surgeon on staff.With the helipad and the capacity to transfer patients to hospitals offering heart surgery, the newly opened cardiac catheterization laboratory completes the full range of medical treatment for heart patients.”This is in a sense the opening of the cardiac cath lab,” said Valley View CEO Gary Brewer. “It’s seems like it’s been a long time coming, but it’s great to be here today.”Among those Brewer thanked for making the helipad possible was Wiepking.”She’s been after me like a bulldog in the nine years I’ve been here to do this,” he said with a laugh.

Hospital board chairman Mark Gould also applauded the $1.5 million helipad.”We’re going to save lives with this,” he said. “This puts us on the map as a regional health center.”The helicopter crew opened the aircraft to visitors, including several little boys who were obviously charmed with the machinery. The helicopter is capable of transporting four patients at a time and has a full range of equipment and medications to handle emergencies. “It’s more than an ambulance, more like an ER,” said St. Mary’s flight nurse Ginny Mattison. The flight from St. Mary’s to Valley View takes 30 to 40 minutes, she said.

“We’ve come a long way from landing helicopters on St. Stephen’s play yard,” said hospital foundation chairman Mary Steinbrecher. St. Stephen’s school is across the street from the hospital and once had a wide open field beside it large enough for landing a helicopter in an emergency.Contact Donna Gray: 945-8515, ext. 16605dgray@postindependent.comPost Independent, Glenwood Springs Colorado CO