The SAMU 80 emergency medical service coordinates emergency medical response operations throughout the Somme department in northern France, operating from the CHU Amiens-Picardie and its Hôpital Sud complex. As part of the national French Service d’Aide Médicale Urgente network, SAMU 80 manages medical regulation, physician-led pre-hospital interventions, and intensive care transport missions across a geographically diverse territory that includes major urban centers, extensive agricultural regions, and the coastal environments surrounding the Bay of Somme. The organization functions as the department’s central emergency coordination hub, continuously monitoring incoming emergency calls and dispatching specialized mobile intensive care teams to severe cardiac, respiratory, neurological, and traumatic incidents. Its integrated SAMU-SMUR structure enables rapid on-scene stabilization and coordinated patient transfers toward advanced hospital facilities throughout northern France.
A major modernization milestone came through the strengthening of the department’s Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) capabilities with the deployment of an Airbus H135 helicopter permanently based at the Amiens hospital helipad. Configured as a flying intensive care unit, the H135 significantly enhanced the service’s ability to rapidly access isolated rural and coastal areas while bypassing congested or time-consuming road networks. Equipped for both primary rescue missions and critical inter-hospital transfers, the helicopter allows medical crews to stabilize high-risk patients during flight and accelerate transport toward specialized tertiary trauma, stroke, and cardiac centers. Through its combination of centralized emergency regulation and modern airborne medical infrastructure, SAMU 80 remains a critical component of healthcare continuity across the Hauts-de-France region.
The SAMU 80 helicopter is officially operated by
Mont Blanc Hélicoptères (MBH).
Models