After a couple of decades away, the thump of helicopter blades overhead will come back to University Hospital.

University's board on Thursday approved $940,000 to create a helipad on top of its Emergency Department to once again receive air ambulances.

The move is part of the hospital's push to bring in more heart patients from outlying areas to its new Heart and Vascular Institute, which will open next month. The hospital is also going to conduct a national search for a medical director for that institute.

University had its own air ambulance at one time but gave up the Lifebird service in 1987. This time, Gold Cross EMS-Air/Med will transport patients to University, as it already does for Doctors and Medical College of Georgia hospitals. MCG Hospital also has its own air ambulance service, LifeNet.

University already has physicians seeing patients in 15 outlying counties and gets some heart patients sent to them via Daniel Field, where an ambulance has to pick them up and take them to University, said Marilyn Bowcutt, vice president for patient care services.

Being able to land at University should save anywhere from 10-30 minutes, depending on traffic and the delays in transferring to an ambulance, she said. That is important in meeting the current standard of getting the patient catheterized within 90 minutes of arrival in the Emergency Department, which in the future will be catheterization in less than 90 minutes from the time the ambulance gets to the patient, Mrs. Bowcutt said.

It is something the physicians are backing to aid the new heart institute, said Faiz Rehman, chairman of the Department of Cardiology at University.

"We have to think big," he told University's board. "This is an awesome facility. Give us the tools so we can get to the patient quicker."

In fact, it should help attract patients that might be flown elsewhere, Mrs. Bowcutt said.

"When we look at these outlying county areas, we're predicting that we should easily see 60 more cases a year," she said.

At that rate, it will take nearly four years to pay off the expense, Mrs. Bowcutt said.

"But we believe it will have a significant impact on patients who do need to come from outlying areas," she said.

Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.