Seattle Children’s and Laurelhurst neighborhood agree to change controversial helicopter landing policy
Seattle Children’s Hospital and the Laurelhurst Community Council have agreed to revisit a decades-old agreement governing landings of helicopter transport flights in the neighborhood. The announcement came Friday in a joint statement from the hospital and council.
The development follows a public outcry over the existing agreement regarding helicopter landings, which says, “Only the most critical and life-threatening medical emergencies shall be allowed to land at CHMC (Children’s Hospital and Medical Center).”
“We are happy to continue working closely with Seattle Children’s and value the care provided by this long-standing institution,” spokesperson for the Laurelhurst Community Council, Lee Keller, texted KUOW in a statement.
Controversy about this agreement between the hospital and one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods erupted last week after a person claiming to be a medical pilot posted about the helicopter flights on X (the account has subsequently been made private).
Helicopters transporting all but the “most critically ill” patients must land at a field about a mile away across the street from University Village and up the road from Husky Stadium. The patient is then transferred via ambulance the last mile to the hospital.
“If you’re sick enough to come by helicopter to Seattle Children’s, you’re sick enough to land at the hospital and get your care started right away,” said Dr. Tony Woodward, who has been at Children’s for 20 years and said he’s been a part of conversations around helicopter landings since then.
The current agreement also burdens the medical staff in the helicopter.
“They also have in the back of their mind, ‘What’s going to happen if I land in one place or the other? Now I have to defend my decisions,’” Woodward said.
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Under the 1992 “conditional use permit,” if a child’s condition deteriorates in flight, the medical team may route the helicopter to Children’s under conditions including “the persistence of unstable vital signs despite heroic attempts to control them.”
The agreement includes: a flight path and strict training protocol for pilots to keep choppers from flying over the Laurelhurst neighborhood, a medical review committee to ensure compliance, and data collection and regular reporting.
“Following a meeting to discuss a path forward, the Laurelhurst Community Council (LCC) has agreed to fully support Seattle Children’s as it seeks city approval to end the Medical Review Committee for helicopter landings,” Seattle Children’s posted in a statement Friday.
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Ideally, Children’s would like to end the agreement completely and route all helicopter transport flights directly to the hospital, Woodward said.
The timeline of when that would take place is not yet clear, since the changes would need to be approved by the city.
Mayor Katie Wilson expressed support for the change Friday.
“I am grateful that there is a path forward to prioritize the needs of critically ill and acutely injured children,” Wilson said in a statement. “This is the kind of solutions-focused partnership our city needs more of.”
