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(maybe not a useful question, given the logistical difficulty) Could idled planes be re-tasked as medivac flights, to load balance hospitalization around the c

(maybe not a useful question, given the logistical difficulty) Could idled planes be re-tasked as medivac flights, to load balance hospitalization around the country and avoid locally overloaded resources?

tomp 7y ago
I was thinking about this the other day, when Croatia, besides dealing with coronavirus and its fallout, also got hit by a pretty powerful earthquake and had to evacuate a birthing ward / hospital. But then I asked myself, that given how much pain and annoyances us regular (and healthy) passengers have to go through on perfectly ordinary flights, is it really feasible to be transporting sick and/or vulnerable individuals in planes? I'm imagining it's very non-trivial, and would require a lot of support (a lot of doctors), so might not even be a net gain...
- iso1631 7y ago
  Sick and vulnerable people get transported by planes all the time. They don't go through the TSA.
- jedberg 7y ago
  Presumably you'd sell each person a row so they could lie down.
ska 7y ago
How do you staff them properly without pulling people out of the already overloaded system?
- bluGill 7y ago
  You fly doctors and nurses from where they are going there and back. The hospital in my town could take 3 (out of how many...) people from Italy right now. Of course we just found the first local case yesterday so I have no idea how long there will be room. (we are on stay at home for a week already so maybe we will be fine, maybe not - we will know in a year)
  - ska 7y ago
    I don't think it's that simple. You need EMT's/ambulance crews at a minimum diverted from somewhere, and some amount of presence at airports. You can maybe find nurses from other services to fly, but it's not just them. You'll need specialized cleaning staff, but can probably train them quickly. The medical staff though, that's trickier.
    - bluGill 7y ago
      We have many emts and fire fighters (medical training part of the job) waiting for something. Take those on call... I agree with your point though, we can safely make a difference to someone, but statically it doesn't show up as we dare not spare that many people lest a real local emergency happen.

tomp 7y ago

I was thinking about this the other day, when Croatia, besides dealing with coronavirus and its fallout, also got hit by a pretty powerful earthquake and had to evacuate a birthing ward / hospital. But then I asked myself, that given how much pain and annoyances us regular (and healthy) passengers have to go through on perfectly ordinary flights, is it really feasible to be transporting sick and/or vulnerable individuals in planes? I'm imagining it's very non-trivial, and would require a lot of support (a lot of doctors), so might not even be a net gain...

iso1631 7y ago
Sick and vulnerable people get transported by planes all the time. They don't go through the TSA.
jedberg 7y ago
Presumably you'd sell each person a row so they could lie down.

ska 7y ago

How do you staff them properly without pulling people out of the already overloaded system?

bluGill 7y ago
You fly doctors and nurses from where they are going there and back. The hospital in my town could take 3 (out of how many...) people from Italy right now. Of course we just found the first local case yesterday so I have no idea how long there will be room. (we are on stay at home for a week already so maybe we will be fine, maybe not - we will know in a year)
- ska 7y ago
  I don't think it's that simple. You need EMT's/ambulance crews at a minimum diverted from somewhere, and some amount of presence at airports. You can maybe find nurses from other services to fly, but it's not just them. You'll need specialized cleaning staff, but can probably train them quickly. The medical staff though, that's trickier.
  - bluGill 7y ago
    We have many emts and fire fighters (medical training part of the job) waiting for something. Take those on call... I agree with your point though, we can safely make a difference to someone, but statically it doesn't show up as we dare not spare that many people lest a real local emergency happen.