Mr Steve Soliz1
1Bell Textron, 2Association of Air Medical Services
Biography:
Steve Soliz serves as the EMS Segment Manager for Bell and has worked in the air evacuation industry since 1988. Steve plays an integral role in supporting Bell’s sales team as a subject matter expert in air ambulance operations and has both line and leadership experience as a civilian and military flight nurse to bridge the gap between customer needs and Bell solutions.
Steve started his aviation career in the late-1980s serving in the U.S. Air Force as a flight medic, eventually becoming a flight nurse. Through the years, he has worked as a flight nurse instructor, examiner, Chief Nurse, Director of Operations and Squadron Commander. He worked as a paediatric transport nurse and was an essential part of exponential growth of a Texas Bell 206 EMS program in the early 2000’s. He has helped develop military and civilian doctrine and served for six years as the President of the Texas Association of Air Medical Services. Steve was appointed to the Texas Governor’s EMS and Trauma Council Air Medical Committee and the Disaster and Emergency Planning Committee.
Steve currently has appointments as an Association of Air Medical Services Board member, Vertical Association International Air Ambulance Industry Advisory Council member and the European Helicopter Association Helicopter EMS Working Group member.
Steve earned his BS in Nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 1992 and his MBA in Leadership at the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2008.
Abstract:
Utilising a slide presentation and open discussion, we will explore the history of operating aviation resources for patient transport that was born out of military casualty movement as far back at the Crimean War. The United States launched its first commercial hospital-based helicopter program in 1972 and the industry exploded over the following decades. The industry exhibited this exponential growth due to the closing of rural hospitals, poor staffing of volunteer ground EMS agencies and the robust reimbursement from insurance companies came a myriad of challenges that led to crashes, deaths.
Alarmed by this trend, the Unites States government, led by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration began to investigate what was leading to this deadly trend and identified key aspects that they believe could be improved upon. Implementation was swift, but there were ways to circumvent these recommendations that had to be addressed.
The presenter will lead the audience on a retrospective look back on the growth of the largest HEMS aircraft industry in the world and explore its beginnings, growth and maturation to better practices and deliberate if we are truly a safer industry now.