I think everyone who lives in the apartments has heard the roars. Your eyes pop open, and you’re suddenly 100 percent sure that a helicopter is landing on your roof. Unfortunately, that’s usually when I realize that I am not Jason Bourne, and the helicopter isn’t the CIA. The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center’s rescue helicopters do weave through the North Village apartments with deafening consistency, but it’s hard to believe that people are so incensed by it. These helicopters are a part of the Emergency Preparedness Program, which is set up to do things like transfer newborns and trauma victims to high-tech facilities that only the UCLA Medical Center can provide.
When I saw the neon fliers a couple of weeks ago decrying the helicopters and their noise, I just assumed that it would be the many older residents living in the North Village who were complaining, not students.
But I was mistaken. I have heard several Bruins grumble about the roars issuing from flight paths that are saving lives. The ultimate public forum of our generation, Facebook, plays host to groups against the emergency helicopters. The members and even the creator refused to comment for this column.
I don’t want to paint a horrific picture of those who are complaining because I do understand what they’re experiencing. It’s true, the flimsy windows of my apartment rattle when a helicopter flies by, and the noise drowns out the TV when Dexter is going in for the kill or when I am busy trying to sleep in on a Saturday morning. However, the students complaining about this are ridiculous. The area most affected by the choppers is also the same area where pandemonium descends every Thursday night.
Anna Chan, a fourth-year economics student, said she is not particularly bothered by the helicopters.
“I don’t hear it much in my apartment, just when I’m walking into Westwood,” Chan said.
Chan lives near Veteran and Levering Avenues, not very far from the fly zone. She said that even when she hears the helicopters, she can usually ignore the noise. A group of concerned residents of the North Village community held a meeting with the UCLA Medical Center on Sept. 25, asking them to alter the flight paths of their emergency helicopters.
But since the cases are always emergencies, the pilots are often required to choose the quickest flight path while keeping in mind the demands of wind direction and other factors.
Jeffrey Wright, the owner of a heliport consulting company, said in an interview with the Daily Bruin that while the UCLA Medical Center may have set certain paths, it is ultimately up to the pilot to choose the best path to most safely transport the patient.
“We tried to keep away as much of the noise as possible over the campus,” Wright said.
As president of the UCLA chapter of the American Medical Students Association, Anil Sharma, a fourth-year biology student, is surprised by the general reaction of people toward the choppers.
“People need to understand that they live next to a hospital. … In this situation, we need to focus on the No. 1 priority of ensuring that pilots are able to safely and efficiently land at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center,” Sharma said.
There needs to be a strong and positive relationship between a hospital and its community. And yes, communication of problems is important but so is accommodating the needs of each party. In this case we have life-and-death situations at one end and extraneous noise at the other. If Westwood were some quiet, sleepy town where you could hear a butterfly cough, then maybe the noise complaints would make some sense. But are people missing the fact that this is an area bursting with college students? We happen to be the land of regular and loud revelry, of honking while parallel parking.
Even though there are a considerable number of families and older residents here, they are aware of the reality of the noise inherent to living in a college town.
Students admit that it is a difficult situation because of the nature of the trips. Fourth-year psychobiology student Helen Nguyen said she is upset about the circumstances, but she also realizes that the hospital will try everything it can to maintain the peace of the neighborhood.
“I have definitely been woken up by a helicopter. Or two. Or five,” Nguyen said.
Communication with the medical center on this topic is vital but we have to realize that in reality, if the best route to transport a trauma victim is over our apartments, complaining about it is just awkward. Thursday, Friday and even Saturday nights see noisy parades of students ““ which we have all probably been a part of ““ at all hours of the night. There is no Society for Quiet Nights in Westwood or Students Against Partying that hold meetings about that noise.
The helicopters are loud. They fly very close to the apartments. They shake windows and wake people. But we live next to a world-class hospital, and they are trying to save lives. Buy some ear plugs or a manual on how to foster empathy if you still can’t stand the noise. Banging at the hospital’s doors with torches and pitchforks isn’t exactly the most civilized thing to do.
If you secretly hate trauma victims, then e-mail Joshi at rjoshi@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.