Ribbon cut on second Wareham helipad
Town and SouthCoast Health officials gather as Calib LaRue cuts the ribbon on the Wareham Viking Landing Zone on Friday, June 26. Photos by Nick Mossman
Southcoast Health President and CEO David McCready speaks at the ribbon cutting.
LaRue introduces the landing zone project. 
Town Administrator Derek Sullivan speaks at the opening ceremony. 
State Sen. Kelly Dooner (R-Taunton) gives a citation to LaRue for his efforts to create the landing zone.
Town and SouthCoast Health officials gather as Calib LaRue cuts the ribbon on the Wareham Viking Landing Zone on Friday, June 26. Photos by Nick Mossman
Southcoast Health President and CEO David McCready speaks at the ribbon cutting.
LaRue introduces the landing zone project.
Town Administrator Derek Sullivan speaks at the opening ceremony.
State Sen. Kelly Dooner (R-Taunton) gives a citation to LaRue for his efforts to create the landing zone.
Wareham emergency responders and Southcoast Health cut the ribbon on a helipad on Viking Drive near the Wareham Town Hall Friday, June 26.
The helipad, known as the Wareham Viking Landing Zone, is set to improve Wareham's emergency response capacity. Emergency Management Director Calib LaRue said that within less than a week of the helipad being opened, two helicopter transports had already used it.
According to LaRue, the helipad at Tobey Hospital is sometimes taken up by a critical transport patient. He said that if first responders in Wareham are handling a patient with a traumatic injury and the existing helipad is occupied, they may have no place for the patient to go.
LaRue said that patients will be transported via helicopter from Wareham to high-level trauma care centers, the closest of which are in Providence, R.I. and in Boston.
Wareham's Tobey Hospital does not have a dedicated high level trauma care center, though it does have an emergency department and trauma bays to stabilize patients before transporting them elsewhere.
LaRue called the landing zone a "critical asset to our community." He added that the helipad gives emergency responders better access near Wareham Middle School and Wareham High School.
If an emergency happens at the schools or nearby, responders can now land helicopters in the town's two nearby helipads, alternating between the two and transporting more patients quicker.
The helipad project was funded by a partnership between Southcoast Health and the Town of Wareham, LaRue said. The town agreed to use its employees to build the helipad while Southcoast Health funded the project.
"It's a project that represents collaboration, dedication and the shared commitment to public safety," LaRue said during the ribbon cutting ceremony.
Southcoast Health President and CEO David McCready said that the organization is part of the greater Wareham community, saying the group is "all over" collaboration and partnership opportunities, like that at the Viking Landing Zone.
"It's kind of like a win-win scenario for the town and for Southcoast," LaRue said.
