Already back in 1957, just a few years after Swiss Air-Rescue was founded, Rega occasionally flew rescue missions in the Engadin using a helicopter belonging to Heliswiss. At the end of the 1960s, Rega purchased a helicopter of its own – an Alouette III – to serve this region. From 1982, Rega also deployed its own rescue team, which was stationed at Samedan Airport, where it had built its own hangar in 1977.

Good cooperation with the SAC

The scope of activities performed by the Engadin base is characterised by the seasonal fluctuations in tourism. Winter sport enthusiasts and mountaineers on the famous peaks of the Bernina Massif and climbers on the steep rock faces of the Bregaglia mountain range are among its most frequent patients. In special cases, Rega is assisted by rescue specialists from the Swiss Alpine Club SAC, with which it enjoys an excellent working relationship. In addition, the crew are called out to many road, occupational and sports accidents. In the event of large-scale missions, such as avalanche accidents, the Samedan base also works with local companies, whose helicopters are used to transport rescuers and equipment. Depending on the workload at the neighbouring Rega bases, its operational area also covers the northern part of Canton Graubünden and the regions just across the border in Italy and Austria.

Many primary missions

Around 700 rescue missions are flown every year from the highest Rega base, which lies at approx. 1,700 metres above sea-level. Almost 90 percent of them are so-called primary missions, whereby a flight physician and a paramedic are flown to the scene of the accident in order to administer first aid to the patient. The remaining 10 percent are so-called secondary missions, which involve transferring patients who are already receiving medical care from a regional hospital to a central clinic, for example.