Mar 28, 2024
Bradford Sanitary Authority is working with Upper Allegheny Health System to use property on Seaward Avenue as a possible helipad site for air medical transport.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Executive Director Steve Disney said communications have continued about using the wastewater treatment grounds on Seaward Avenue. A site review has been scheduled for April 2 with a representative from the Bureau of Aviation.
Joseph Fuglewicz, spokesman for UAHS, explained more about the landing zone.
“The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford has been working collaboratively with Bradford Regional Medical Center (BRMC) for many years to provide a landing zone for air medical transfers,” he said. “We continue to be grateful for the university’s support and for their key role in transferring our most critically ill and injured patients.
“We have been using an ‘unimproved’ landing zone, which essentially is a landing zone that does not exist at an airport or hospital helipad,” he continued. “This can create some challenges, particularly with surface conditions related to snow, ice, soft turf and mud.”
Fuglewicz said they are working on changing that situation.
“We are in the planning stages of identifying a location to build a heliport that is more suitable for the weather conditions in our region and that will improve the overall safety of air medical operations,” he said. “We will continue to utilize the landing zone at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford until the new site is completed and licensed.”