Brandywine Hospital discontinues SkyFlightCare helicopter service

    Out with the old and in with the new. The addition of Paoli Hospital’s trauma center, coupled with a new flight service, means Brandywine Hospital’s SkyFlightCare will be eliminated.

    The new helicopter service based at Camden’s Cooper University Hospital will serve the region alongside the PennStar service, which is based in West Goshen, Chester County.

     

    Here are some statistics on the service from the West Chester Daily Local:

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    SkyFlightCare was dispatched 155 times in 2010, and PennStar was dispatched 97 times.
    Those numbers were 246 and 198, respectively, in 2008.
    Forty employees (17 full-time) will be affected.
    SkyFlightCare was in service for 28 years.

    Chester County Department of Emergency Services spokeswoman Patty Mains expects medic helicopter response time will take just a few minutes longer.

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