From ISAS to ASA.

Gerhard Kugler, Honorary President of EHAC and former General Manager of ADAC Luftrettung GmbH, wrote this history in 2008.

The International Society of Aeromedical Services, ISAS, is very closely connected to AIRMED Conferences. It was in 1980, under the patronage of ADAC, the leading German Automobile Association, when I organised the first International Air Medical Congress in Munich. More than 1,200 experts from all over the world met on that occasion. It became obvious that the services developing in many countries created a growing demand for sharing opinions, exchanging results and discussing future perspectives. For the first time we got an overview of what's going on in Australia. Dr Susan Rowley from Sydney presented a paper titled "Aerial Ambulance Service in Australia". She mentioned that in early 1928 the flying doctor service was realised, opening its headquarters in Cloncurry, Queensland. Thus the world's first flying doctor service was launched. In the initial period an aircraft was chartered from Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, known today as Australia's national airline QANTAS.

In comparison, in Europe the inauguration of civil air rescue services dates back to the fifties and sixties. Switzerland began with flying mountain rescue in 1952, and ADAC made the first step in 1969, which laid the cornerstone for a nationwide network.

Susan Rowley stated, among others, in her report: "The civilian helicopter rescue scene started in 1973 when the Surf Life Saving Association of Australia began to operate a Bell 47 Helicopter Service in Sydney to aid in surf rescue along its metropolitan beaches during the summer months. During that first year, 75 missions were achieved." And as a 1980 update: "At present, the Sydney Helicopter Rescue Service is provided at no cost or obligation to the community it serves. The Service has now completed over 1,200 missions and realised a potential far greater than its original role of surf rescue only. This has been due to increasing awareness by rescue agencies and medical personnel of the helicopter's unique advantages."

At the second AIRMED, in 1985 in Zurich, Switzerland, there were four papers from Australia on the program, indicating the progress of air medical services Down Under. At that event a group of delegates proposed to establish a permanent international platform for the entire air rescue community. This was the hour of birth of ISAS. A Board of Directors was formed: Dr Christian Buehler (Chair), CEO of Swiss Air Ambulance (REGA), Zurich; H. C. Cleveland MD, Professor of Surgery, University of Colorado, Denver; Dr R. J. Fairhurst, Chief Medical Officer, Europ Assistance Ltd, Croydon, UK; B. H. Harris MD, Professor of Surgery, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts; Prof. Dr G. Hossli, Institute of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital Zurich; G. Kugler, General Manager, ADAC Air Rescue Service, Munich; and Prof. Dr P. de Temmermann, Institute of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital Brussels.

Under Swiss law ISAS was appointed and registered as a non-profit organisation.

In keeping with the vision of the founder members, the major activity of ISAS was to organise further AIRMED Congresses. The first AIRMED under the auspices of ISAS took place in 1988 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in cooperation with ASHBEAMS, the US roof organisation of air medical services (now known as AAMS). The following AIRMED, in 1991, was originally planned for Brighton, UK, but organisational preparations could not be finalised because of the Gulf War, when everybody was afraid of a threatening world conflict. The venue got a last-minute cancellation.

With the resignation of Dr Buehler from REGA, ISAS lost its driving force. Lacking perspectives for AIRMED, the activities of ISAS ran down and finally ISAS was dissolved. But the Australasian Chapter sustained.

Dr Bernhard Cresswell from the Royal Flying Doctor Service took the initiative and invited AIRMED 1993 to come to Sydney. After Sydney, led by national air ambulance services, AIRMED conferences came back to a normal turn again. ADAC organised AIRMED 1996 in Munich, the Norwegian Luftambulanse was the host for AIRMED 2000, and REGA celebrated AIRMED 2002 in Interlaken, Switzerland. Meanwhile the European HEMS and Air Rescue Committee (EHAC) was founded and was assigned by its members to represent their interests on an international level. AIRMED became a registered trade mark of EHAC. In this context AIRMED 2005 was already a joint venture of EHAC and the Automobile Club of Catalunya. The design of AIRMED 2008 in Prague is also a cooperation between EHAC and the Czech air rescue society HEMS Prague.

Many things in air rescue, European and worldwide, have changed. New regulations have been enacted, quality control and the definition of standards have gained priority, training and education have become another main issue together with the improvement of flight safety, and behind these concerns economic consolidation has come under pressure from different restraints.

All these facts will give the presentations and debates of AIRMED 2008 a significant importance. I am looking forward to a strong representation of the members of ISAS.

Gerhard Kugler (1935–2009)
Honorary President of EHAC and former General Manager of ADAC Luftrettung GmbH