"Seconds Count"
Bar Harbor Dedicates Year-Round Helipad for LifeFlight at Town Ball Field
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Thrive Juice Bar & Kitchen.
BAR HARBOR—The new helipad at the corner of Park Street and Main Street officially opened for landing, Friday, October 3.
Although the helicopter often landed on the town’s athletic fields off Park Street, muddy or adverse surface conditions didn’t always allow that to happen.
Now, it’s permanently available, all year long.
Bar Harbor Fire Chief Matt Bartlett said, '“This landing pad project started with internal discussions among Deputy Chief John Lennon, Assistant Chief Basil Mahaney, and me about the need for a dedicated year-round landing pad in Bar Harbor.”
Public Works Director Bethany Leavitt said she was extremely proud to be at the ribbon cutting and her involvement began with Chief Bartlett’s phone call.
“It will serve not only Bar Harbor, but all the communities of Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park and all the visitors coming to Bar Harbor,” Chief Bartlett said.
Because the agencies have had a great relationship, they’ve been able to manage the litany of landing zones that have had to be used during the decades, Chief Bartlett said.
There were a lot.
Chief Bartlett listed a few: “The ball field. The grammar school. The ferry terminal. Hull’s Cove Visitor Center. The town pier. And many other locations all served as landing sites over the years.”
“This is a critical resource and critical healthcare infrastructure for this community,” said LifeFlight CEO Joe Kellner, who spoke of the travel time by helicopter to Bangor compared to ambulance. It’s approximately an hour less. “This helipad will act as the front doors to trauma centers across Maine and even down as far as Boston. We bring IC (intensive care) level care right to the patient, right at their point of need.”
At the ball field, historically, ambulance personnel took the patients to the helicopter or to the hospital, depending on the need, transferring injured people over the grassy field. This was difficult in the winter and during exceptionally muddy times.
“This investment truly represents the preservation of life saving access to care for our community,” said Mount Desert Island Hospital CEO Christina Maguire.
While Maguire spoke, some firefighters attending had to leave, paged out for a fire alarm activation at an apartment.
The page, the fire truck heading down Main Street away from the event and toward a call seemed a poignant reminder of care.
“For over twenty years LifeFlight has been the bridge between Mount Desert Island Hospital and the community,” Maguire said. “Hundreds, if not thousands, of patients have been transported off this island and behind that number is a family, is a loved one, is a neighbor, and is a community that has been profoundly impacted by this service.”
Rachel Malcolm, a local volunteer firefighter in Trenton and a member of the LifeFlight board spoke to the need for a permanent dedicated pad.
“I’ve been on many emergency scenes where we need to set up a LifeFlight landing zone,” she said.
The helipad allows for smoother transitions from ambulance to helicopter to advanced off-island critical care.
“Seconds count. Seconds count for the patients, for the LifeFlight crews and for the first responders on the ground,” Malcolm said.
Construction of the new $250,000 helipad began this summer after funds were successfully raised for the project. It was completely funded by philanthropic contributions. People who could cared enough, and had the means, to make the island a bit safer.
A private foundation with strong ties to the Bar Harbor community made a significant donation to the LifeFlight Foundation to support the initiative. Another donor based in Bar Harbor made a contribution that will be given to the Town of Bar Harbor to support a maintenance fund for the helipad. MDI Hospital also contributed to the project.
According to LifeFlight of Maine, the state’s only air ambulance service, ”the permanent pad will significantly enhance swift access to advanced care for critically ill and injured patients in Bar Harbor and surrounding areas by allowing LifeFlight of Maine helicopters to land close to the Mount Desert Island Hospital year-round.”
Since 1998, LifeFlight helicopters have landed on the baseball field that is just down the street from MDI Hospital.
If the conditions were too bad at the ball field, LifeFlight would land at the Bar Harbor ferry terminal. This added approximately ten minutes to the trip between the hospital and the helicopter.
Because the new surface is paved and will have automatic lights when the helicopter approaches, the ferry landing site won’t be needed and the overall safety is enhanced.
In 2023, LifeFlight transported 69 patients from Bar Harbor. LifeFlight transported a total of 2,521 patients in 2023.
In 2021, LifeFlight transported 60 patients from Bar Harbor out of 2,303 total transports. Back in fiscal year 2015 (June 2014-July 2015), LifeFlight transported 47.
“LifeFlight regularly provides critical care and medical transport to patients on Mount Desert Island facing acute illness or injury. This includes both scene calls, in which LifeFlight interfaces with local fire and EMS agencies, and inter-facility transports, in which LifeFlight transports a patient from Mount Desert Island Hospital to a larger trauma center,” said LifeFlight Director of Communications Henry Frank.
The site’s location on the field and Park Street has been considered a “perfect landing site,” because it is so close to the Bar Harbor Fire Station and Mount Desert Island Hospital. Back in September 2020, the Town Council approved building a landing pad on the site, next to the skate park.
“LifeFlight is much more than just helicopters. Helipads are portals of access to specialty medical care. One of LifeFlight’s core goals is to facilitate the development of this infrastructure in Maine to allow us to be there when you need us,” said Joe Kellner, CEO, LifeFlight of Maine.
While LifeFlight expects to use it most often, the town-owned helipad can be utilized by any emergency helicopter. Nearly all of the 35 hospitals in Maine have permanent helicopter landing areas. The completion of this helipad in Bar Harbor is an important advancement for access to critical care in this community, according to LifeFlight representatives.
Malcolm, Maguire, Leavitt, Chief Bartlett, and all others thanked current and former town managers (James Smith, Cornell Knight), Finance Director Sarah Gilbert, Code Enforcement Officer Mike Gurtler, past and present public works staff, donors, LifeFlight, and contractors for their efforts in creating the new helipad.
Photos and video by Shaun Farrar and Carrie Jones except for the duo below by Suzanne Sylvia showing Shaun in action.
Update: We added two photos at 2:43, October 3.
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One of the classiest part of the operation is having a wind sock installed just across the street!