Early one cold winter morning, three LifeFlight helicopters were positioned simultaneously on the tarmac at Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport. While unusual for a small community hospital to have so many called at one time, they were there to pick up and fly severely ill and injured patients to larger hospitals.

It illustrates the changing demographics of the Midcoast region, with a growing year-round population, and a reliance on immediate emergency transports for medical and trauma patients.

Ground transportation is equally essential, especially on foggy, stormy nights, when aircraft cannot fly. 

Since Feb. 14, Pen Bay Medical Center and Waldo County General Hospital, both under the umbrella of the Portland-based MaineHealth, have been building a small fleet of ground transport ambulances specifically for the Midcoast. There are seen more frequently now, the NorthStar logo affixed to a van and box ambulance equipped with advanced life support technology, along the west side of Penobscot Bay.

The acquisition of those emergency vehicles was made after PBMC announced last November that it would begin using the Farmington-based NorthStar ambulance to transport inter-facility patients.

The goal, said Tyler Giberson, chair of Emergency Medicine for PBMC and Emergency Medicine Specialty Council for Maine Health, “is to guarantee the ability to transport patients in an expedited timeframe by ambulance.” 

Incorporating ambulances into the system represents a new direction for the two Midcoast hospitals, which have traditionally contracted with, or called upon, outside ambulance services to help take patients to hospitals with higher levels of care. Most recently, PBMC contracted with North East Mobile Health Services, a privately owned company based in Scarborough and with a division in Rockport.

For the past decade, North East has also held contracts with Camden, Hope, Lincolnville and Rockport to respond to 911 emergency calls in those towns. Late last year, however, it scaled back its inter-facility (hospital-to-hospital, or hospital-to-nursing home) transport business, citing labor shortages and need to fulfill its contractual obligations with the four towns.

With that development, the Midcoast hospitals turned to NorthStar ambulance service, which is based in Farmington at Franklin Memorial Hospital. Like PMBC and Waldo County General Hospital, Franklin Memorial falls under the Maine Health nonprofit umbrella.

NorthStar has now permanently situated the two ambulances in Rockport, and hired a staff of five full-time paramedics and emergency medical technicians to run 24/7.

Since mid-February to the first week in April, they have been busy, making a total of 171 transports; 114 from PMBC and 54 from Waldo. The majority of patients are heading to Maine Medical Center, in Portland, said Giberson. All of those trips added up to 1,200 staff hours.

Likewise, over the last year, LifeFlight flew 103 missions out of PBMC and 86 from Waldo, either by helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft, said Giberson.

He noted that the volume of patients is growing across the state. Besides an increase in population (Knox County is now at 41,000 residents, according to the latest census figures, and Waldo County, 40,000), Maine has the highest share of older residents of any state. Former Maine State Economist Charles Colgan had projected in 2006 at a Blaine House Conference on Aging that by 2026, the percent of Mainers over age 65 would be 22 percent. He was not far off; as of 2021, the figure was 21.8 percent.

In Knox County, the percentage of those age 65 and older is 27 percent, according to the latest census. In Waldo County, the number is 24.2 percent.

And with summer on the approach, there is bound to be more, with a higher number of trauma patients traditionally seeking emergency care from Memorial Day to Labor Day. By contrast, the winter months brings more patients afflicted with the flu and respiratory distress.

Giberson is proud of the emergency systems at both hospitals.

“We have recruited a talented ED provider and nursing staff,” he said.

And, he looks forward to a successful ambulance division that will transport a variety of patients, including the severely injured, or very sick children and adults suffering heart attacks and strokes and in need of specialized care.

There are also the patients who simply need a lift to different facilities, he added. They are often the elderly ready to go home from the hospital to a nursing home, or, patients being transferred between PMBC and Waldo in pursuit of an open bed, which have become increasingly in short supply in both hospitals.

The relationship with the local ambulance services remains close. That includes the entire region, from Belfast and Waldo County ambulance crews to North East, and to the area municipalities that run their own ambulance services: Union, Rockland, St. George, Warren, Thomaston, South Thomaston and Waldoboro.

“We rely on everyone,” he said.

As of right now, said Giberson, the NorthStar Coastal Division is not a 911 responding agency. Its ambulances are for providing inter-facility transfers, only.

He advocates for the health of the community, and a durable statewide EMS system that is strong for years ahead.

“We want to be part of the solution to ensure we have adequate emergency response and transport,” said Giberson.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657