SkyHealth helicopter ambulance service introduced at North Shore University Hospital

Critically ill patients in Nassau and the metro area will get the care they need faster thanks to a new helicopter ambulance service officials demonstrated Thursday at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.

The new service, called SkyHealth, will carry patients to North Shore -- now a Level 1 trauma center -- from other hospitals that cannot provide the necessary acute care, hospital officials said.

"This is all about providing better service, quicker service to people in need . . . to save lives," Michael J. Dowling, North Shore-LIJ's chief executive, said at a news conference.

The new helicopter "is outfitted with the same lifesaving equipment as an intensive-care unit," said Taryn Capasso, the chief flight nurse. It will carry one patient at a time.

SkyHealth, a partnership with Yale-New Haven Health System in Connecticut, is expected to serve 350 to 400 people a year.

At North Shore, the service will have the option of using a rooftop or ground-level helipad. The rooftop landing site will speed trips and make them safer, said Jon Sendach, deputy executive director at the hospital.

"None of the New York City hospitals have helipads; none of them," he said.

The medical flights are expected to begin after Thanksgiving, Sendach said. North Shore has invested $7 million on the helicopter and $6.5 million on the rooftop pad, officials said.

Gene Tangney, North Shore chief administrative officer, said the new service will cut travel time from Bay Shore's Southside Hospital to 15 minutes from 40 minutes or more, depending on traffic.

Accident victims will continue to arrive in Nassau police helicopters, officials said.

Unlike Suffolk, Nassau typically does not send out its helicopters for patients with strokes or acute illnesses.

Acting Nassau Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said exceptions can be made in deciding whether to airlift patients. "We're not going to create a life-threatening situation," he said.

In the next few weeks, however, Nassau will seek bidders for two new, more powerful police helicopters that cost a total of about $16 million to $18 million. When they arrive in mid-2015, Krumpter said the number of days bad weather grounds flights should be more than cut in half: from about 50 to less than 20.