Parkview Samaritan earns international accreditation

By Rosa Salter Rodriguez | The Journal Gazette

Parkview Health's Samaritan emergency helicopters and their crews came through with flying colors in becoming the first air-based medical transport system in the region to earn accreditation from a major international evaluation group.

Parkview officials announced the accomplishment this morning during a ceremony on the Parkview North Campus.

The green-and-white choppers, plus Parkview's ground-based mobile intensive care units, were certified in late September by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems. Only four other systems in Indiana have attained the distinction, two in Indianapolis and two in the Evansville area in southern Indiana, hospital officials said.

Dan Garman, Parkview's senior vice president for prehospital and emergency care, called the accreditation "a significant achievement" for the program, which began in 1989.

The distinction "is a marker of strength within our industry" and "an endorsement we're honored to accept," he said.