LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Langley Air Force Base's hospital began accepting emergency-service patients from ambulances off base Wednesday.
Working with Hampton Emergency Medical Services, TRICARE beneficiaries who are off base and need ambulance service can now request to be brought to the emergency room of Langley Air Force Base Hospital.
"We would like to re-capture these patients back into our system," said Maj. Peter Kulis, 633rd Medical Operations Squadron emergency services flight commander. "We are a functioning facility that is growing ... and we want to provide this care and service."
The USAF Hospital Langley Emergency Room, which became a fully-functional ER in 2010, can provide care to patients in most crisis situations. The only cases that the patient could not be brought to USAF Hospital Langley are active heart attacks, significant trauma, pregnancies under 34 weeks, and stroke victims. In these conditions, the patient would need to be taken to an ER in the local community that can entirely accommodate these medical emergencies.
According to Jason Monk, Hampton Division of Fire and Rescue chief medical officer, approximately 85 percent of emergency-service patients are given the option of which local ER they would like to go to for medical attention. He said the open dialogue in establishing a mutual understanding between USAF Hospital Langley and Hampton EMS for ambulance services has created an encouraging relationship.
"By providing the treatment option of Langley's emergency room, we hope to give patients the choice they are most comfortable with," said Monk. "Through this collaborative process, we are growing our relationship with Langley to better serve our community."