The dispute centers on a decades-old agreement balancing emergency care and neighborhood noise.
SEATTLE — Seattle Children’s Hospital says a Laurelhurst neighborhood group has agreed to support its effort to end a review process for helicopter landings used to bring critically ill and injured children to the hospital.
The hospital said Friday that the Laurelhurst Community Council will “fully support” Seattle Children’s as it seeks city approval to end the Medical Review Committee for helicopter landings.
The agreement follows several days of public discussion over the hospital’s helipad rules and whether neighborhood concerns have affected emergency transports.
“I am grateful that there is a path forward to prioritize the needs of critically ill and acutely injured children,” Mayor Katie B. Wilson said in a statement. “This is the kind of solutions-focused partnership our city needs more of.”
The issue drew renewed attention after a person claiming to be a medical pilot posted concerns April 28 on X about helicopter transports to Seattle Children’s. The post led to a larger discussion on Reddit, and KING 5 News reached out to the hospital about the claims.
According to the pilot, crews bringing children to Seattle Children’s have had to weigh whether a patient’s condition is urgent enough to land at the hospital or whether to land about a mile away and move the child by ambulance because of noise concerns in the surrounding neighborhood.
In response, Seattle Children’s said it receives “3 or fewer helicopter transports per week” and that nearly all of those children are admitted to an intensive care unit.
“Every second counts when a child needs lifesaving care and Seattle Children’s will always put the health and safety of our patients first,” the hospital said. “Most members of the Laurelhurst community are supportive and grateful for the services and care Children’s has delivered for decades. However, ongoing efforts by some to restrict helipad access puts an unnecessary burden on the system.”
The hospital said Friday it looks forward to working with the Laurelhurst Community Council, city leaders and community members.
Seattle Children’s said it has served children and families for more than 117 years and has the clinical and operational experience to make transport decisions when “seconds matter.”
The Laurelhurst Community Council said May 1 that it values the care provided by Seattle Children’s and first responders and supports helipad landings for children who need intensive and lifesaving care.
The group also said Seattle Children’s is operating under a city conditional use permit established more than 30 years ago. According to the council, that permit guarantees helipad access for life-threatening emergencies, but not for non-urgent transport.
The council said it was not part of that permit and had not been contacted about concerns with the agreement. It also said it was committed to taking part in talks with the city and the hospital.
The hospital posts helicopter landing reports every six months. The topic has also come up for years during meetings of the Seattle Children’s Implementation Advisory Committee, which is run through the city’s Office of Planning and Community Development.
At an August 2020 meeting, a resident said helicopters had become louder and were often landing on top of the building.
Neighbors had reported helicopters flying close to homes, including along a nearby avenue.
Public comments tied to Seattle Children’s land-use process also show neighbors raised concerns in 2020 about noise, lighting, traffic, landscaping buffers and how the hospital’s expansion fit with its 2010 master plan.
One comment asked the hospital to confirm whether a new surgery pavilion would change the location of the helicopter pad or emergency entrance.
The helipad debate dates back decades. According to HistoryLink, the Seattle City Council approved a helipad at Seattle Children’s on Sept. 28, 1992, after eight years of review and an environmental impact statement.
The helipad was described as a way to get critically ill patients from across western Washington directly to care, saving hours compared with ground transportation.
As part of a compromise with neighbors, most flights were directed to a marked and lighted helipad at Graves Field at the University of Washington unless special circumstances required landing at the hospital, according to HistoryLink. A helicopter advisory committee that included doctors, community members and city and county officials reviewed the clinical reason for each landing decision.
The issue resurfaced in 2018 when Seattle Children’s moved its helistop from a ground-level location to the rooftop of the Forest A building, also known as the Friends of Costco Building.
The Laurelhurst blog wrote at the time that the hospital had told residents the rooftop location would likely be louder than the former ground-based helipad near the emergency room.
The Laurelhurst Community Club also wrote in a 2018 newsletter that the rooftop site was expected to make noise more intense for some nearby residents because the former ground-level location helped block some sound.
The hospital’s helistop was later planned to move permanently to the top of the Forest B building as part of Seattle Children’s expansion. The 2018 newsletter said noise levels would remain higher at nearby homes once that move was complete.
Seattle Children’s said Thursday it is thankful for community support and believes the latest agreement creates a path forward for emergency helicopter access.
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