Cascade Valley Hospital and Clinics is getting a new helistop

ARLINGTON — Cascade Valley Hospital and Clinics is getting a new helistop in hopes of cutting down transportation times for patients who need critical care.

Construction starts Monday across Stillaguamish Avenue from the main hospital building, in a grassy field next to the employee parking lot. The helistop is expected to be done in four to six weeks.

The hospital this year has seen an average of 1,850 visitors to the emergency room each month. Of those, one or two people per month generally need care beyond what the hospital can provide, assistant administrator Heather Logan said.

Cascade Valley works with Airlift Northwest, part of UW Medicine, to transport patients by air to a Level 1 or Level 2 trauma center when needed. One of Airlift Northwest’s five Washington bases is at the Arlington Municipal Airport, roughly a 10-minute drive or a 2-minute flight from the hospital. The others are in Bellingham, Seattle, Olympia and Yakima.

When a patient needs to be airlifted, the Arlington Fire Department drives medics from the airport to the hospital, where they load the patient into the ambulance and drive back to the airport to secure the patient into a helicopter for the flight to Seattle, Airlift Northwest Chief Flight nurse Brenda Nelson said. With the new helistop, helicopters will be able to land across the street from the hospital and patients can be loaded directly into the helicopter, saving valuable minutes.

“That’s the best way to take care of a patient,” Nelson said. “You transfer them in one movement so you’re not jostling them around.”

The number of patients in any given month who need trauma care and the types of injuries or illnesses that can trigger an airlift are varied, Logan said.

Usually, severe cases are taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, about a 20-minute flight from the Arlington hospital. There, they land on a parking structure roof, are placed into a medical van and driven around the corner to the Seattle hospital’s emergency entry.

In every case, time matters.

“It could be anything,” Logan said. “Traumatic injuries. Car accidents are a whole category. Cardiac issues. Burn victims could be taken. It’s really unpredictable.”

The hospital started planning for the new helistop in January. Several years ago, it stopped using the hospital’s old one because it was hemmed in on three sides by trees growing on private property and it was getting dangerous to land and take off there, Logan said. After a few years of shuttling to and from the airport, hospital administrators decided it would be better for patient safety and care to have a helistop again, this time in a hospital-owned field where they can clear out any trees or other obstacles.

Nelson estimates landing at the hospital could save 15 minutes or more, varying on a case-by-case basis, by cutting out drive time to and from the airport and the time it takes to unload and reload patients from the ambulance to the helicopter.

The construction of the helipad includes removing trees, leveling ground, installing a concrete pad, painting and lighting the area. Helicopters could be called to the new helistop at any time once it’s finished.

Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.