Finnair Plc Press release Finnair flights' medical emergency service extended worldwide
The 24-hour medical service to address possible cases of illness on Finnair
flights has been extended to cover the company's domestic and European flights.
On Finnair's Leisure flights and long-haul network the service has been
provided by the US company MedAire. Now an agreement has been reached with EMA
Group Oy to provide a corresponding service for Finnair's European and domestic
traffic.
With the aid of the medical emergency centres, Finnair's aircraft now have
expert assistance available 24 hours a day for all cases of illness that occur
on flights.
"Several dozen serious cases of illness happen on Finnair flights each year.
Handling them is always a challenge in which, in addition to the illness
itself, we have to assess the need for a possible unscheduled landing as well
as land transportation and the arrangement of appropriate follow-up care for
the patient. Expert organisations help Finnair to make our passengers' flights
as safe as possible, even in the event of an illness," says Finnair's Senior
Flight Physician Olavi Hämäläinen.
On all Finnair flights there is a 'doctor's bag' containing the most important
first-aid medicines. Finnair long-haul traffic aircraft also have
defibrillators - devices designed to deliver an electrical shock to the heart -
which are an effective aid in correcting sudden ventricular fibrillation, which
leads to death if left untreated.
Lots of medical information related to flying has been collected for passengers
on the Finnair website at the address www.finnair.com > Travel info > Medical
page.
Finnair, moreover, has established a Medadesk service to coordinate
arrangements for those passengers travelling on Finnair flights whose state of
health requires preliminary examinations before the flight or special service
during the flight. Passengers can contact Medadesk either through their own
agency or via Finnair's sales services.
"With the Medadesk service we want to ensure that the journey of anyone needing
special medical attention is a success from the initial preparation stage, and
that both ground and flight staff are aware of any special arrangements,"
explains Director Anja Koho of Finnair Health Services.
MedAire (www.medaire.com) is a US health services company whose experts are
responsible for handling around 4,000 medical emergencies per month. EMA Group
Oy (www.ema.fi) is Finland's leading expert organisation specialised in
non-hospital medical care. The company's lines of business are traveller's
medical service (patient monitoring, patient transfers and medical clearance
services), ground ambulance service, education and research.
In a blog published today (address:
http://blogs.finnair.com/2009/06/25/physician-tips/) Finnair's Senior Flight
Physician gives advice on how one's state of health should be taken into
account on a flight. He provides tips, for example, on cases of flu, exercise
and advance preparations.
Finnair Plc
Communications
25.06.2009
Further information: - Flight Physician Olavi Hämäläinen, tel. +358 9 818 4845
or
Finnair Media Desk tel. +358 9 818 4020, media.desk[a]finnair.com.
www.medaire.com
Finnair blogs: http://blogs.finnair.com
Photobank: www.finnair.com/gallery
Finnair Group website: www.finnairgroup.com
via.Helsinki: www.viahelsinki.com
