Mansfield Hospital's rooftop helipad test a success
Doctors and nurses watched eagerly Thursday afternoon as a medical helicopter circled OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, then slowly landed on the roof.
They were excited because there were no patients on board — no one in urgent need of medical help. It was a test flight, the first of an untold number of landings that will be made atop the hospital.
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"It was a good day to fly, that's for sure," said the pilot, Jeremy Hildebrand, after his historic landing.
His nearly 3-ton MedFlight chopper was one of the smaller ones the new $2.3 million rooftop helipad would likely see. It's large enough to support birds with wingspans of up to 53 feet.
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The test landing was a success, allowing OhioHealth to move toward making the helipad fully functional. An official date on when it will be used full-time has not been determined.
Safer and faster place to land
Landing patients on top of OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital has been a dream of medical staff for years, according to Dr. Jason Straus, the facility's trauma director.
The helipad in the parking lot has allowed transports to be completed, but using the roof makes it safer and faster.
Swift relocation is important for patients with severe conditions, a common occurrence since the hospital is a level-2 trauma center.
"We are the only one for a 55-mile radius," Straus said.
The other level-2 trauma facilities are at least a half-hour away by helicopter in Cleveland, Columbus and Akron. An inbound flight to Mansfield could be lifesaving to many.
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"Minutes count when you're bleeding to death, and things like that," Straus said.
The hospital has increased the size of its trauma staff over the years so that more patients could be accepted and helped faster.
"We are seeing twice as many trauma patients as we did five years ago," Straus said.
Built with rooftop landings in mind
The new landing spot took shape over the last two years, according to Joe Powell, OhioHealth's life safety senior consultant.
"When the north tower was built, it was built with a rooftop helipad in mind," he said.
Engineers had to examine the building to be sure the structure was in fact capable of accepting heavy objects on its roof.
Since the hospital will take patients who will be delivered from various other locations, the new helipad had to be designed to accommodate several different sizes of helicopters.
A new level of safety measures had to be considered with the new landing spot, considering the machines are no longer coming down on an asphalt parking lot.
The new helipad contains a state-of-the-art suppression system that sprays foam designed to extinguish flames and remove any fuel or oil in the event of a landing emergency.
"It will immediately alert the rest of the building that something happened," Powell said.
Thanks to the dedicated and isolated landing area, hospital staff will no longer need to stop traffic every time a helicopter prepares to land.
"Pedestrians aren't an issue anymore," Powell said.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: First helicopter landing atop Mansfield Hospital was a success
