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Modelling Optimal Location For Pre-Hospital Helicopter Emergency Medical Services, Nadine Schuurman, Nathaniel Bell, Randy L'Heureux, Syed M. Hameed

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Increasing the range and scope of early activation/auto launch helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) may alleviate unnecessary injury mortality that disproportionately affects rural populations. To date, attempts to develop a quantitative framework for the optimal location of HEMS facilities have been absent. METHODS: Our analysis used five years of critical care data from tertiary health care facilities, spatial data on origin of transport and accurate road travel time catchments for tertiary centres. A location optimization model was developed to identify where the expansion of HEMS would cover the greatest population among those currently underserved. The protocol was developed using …