Helicopter emergency medical service celebrates 20 years

Slovenia is marking 20 years since the helicopter emergency medical service was first introduced. The service began in 2003 as a pilot project and is now an indispensable tool in the search and rescue toolbox.

The unit, dubbed the HEMS Brnik, was located at Ljubljana Airport and used Slovenian Armed Forces helicopters.

In the three and a half years of the pilot project, the unit responded 540 times with an average activation time of 17 minutes and more than 50 doctors, nurses and healthcare technicians took part.

Although the unit was originally designed to provide...