Air ambulances in the United States

Air Ambulances in the United States

List of air ambulances

The following is a list of notable Air Ambulances in the United States:

An Airlift Northwest Crew receives a patient transfer from the United States Coast Guard

A Mercy Jets crew loading a patient for transport in a Gulfstream Aerospace GIV air ambulance

• Acadian Ambulance & Air Med Services - Headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana, covers most of the state of Louisiana and parts of western Mississippi
• Air Care - University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH; covers parts of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky; every flight is staffed by UCMC Flight Physician or Midlevel Provider
• Air Evac - Operating out of Phoenix, Arizona Air Evac services areas across Arizona, United States, Canada, and Mexico.
• Air Evac Lifeteam - the largest medical transport program under one name, covers Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. Also operates Texas LifeStar in Central Texas.
• AirLink Critical Care Transport A 30-year CAMTS Certified program transporting Central Oregon's most critical patients. Staffed by highly experienced Pilots, RN's, RT's and Paramedics with fixed wing and rotor bases in Bend and Klamath Falls. http://www.airlinkcct.org/
• AirMed International - Based in Birmingham, Alabama, AirMed provides international fixed wing service on a fee-for-service basis and as a pre-paid air ambulance membership program utilizing Hawker 800, Beechjet 400 and Learjet aircraft.
• Air Methods - Largest US air ambulance operator
• AMR Air Ambulance - Provides domestic and international air medical transportation using specially equipped fixed wing aircraft.
• Angel Flight - A nonprofit charity air medical transportation organization serving needy people and their families. Provides access to specialized medical evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.
• ARCH Air Medical Service - Missouri, Illinois, and the surrounding regions.
• Boston MedFlight - Headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts Boston MedFlight transports emergency patients regardless of their ability to pay.
• Calstar (California Shock Trauma Air Rescue) is a nonprofit regional air ambulance company serving California and northern Nevada. It is currently the largest nonprofit air ambulance provider on the West Coast.
• CareFlite CareFlite is the oldest joint use air medical program in the nation. CareFlite is a 501c not-for-profit that is based in Dallas Texas area and sponsored by: Baylor Scott & White Hospitals, Parkland Hospital, THR hospitals, JPS Hospital, and Methodist Hospitals.
• CareFlight - serves the Dayton, Ohio region and a 150-mile (240 km) radius to serve much of Southwest Ohio. Based at Miami Valley Hospital^[1]
• Critical Air Medicine - Doing business as Critical Air, is based in San Diego, California
• DHART - Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advanced Response Team
• EastCare - University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina owned, and operates in Eastern North Carolina
• Enloe FlightCare - hospital based, nonprofit. Owned and operated by Enloe Medical Center, Chico, California.
• Flight for Life - many bases of operation across the United States
• Guardian Flight - Alaska, Utah and Wyoming
• HALO-Flight - 501C3 air ambulance for South Texas with bases in Corpus Christi, Alice and Beeville, TX. www.haloflight.org
• Hospital Wing-Memphis Medical Center Air Ambulance Service - 501C3 not for profit with bases in TN,MS, and AR. www.hospitalwing.com

CareFlight Air and Mobile Services Lifestar (EC-145)

• Life Flight - Air ambulance based out of the Memorial Hermann Hospital- Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas.
• Life Flight Network - Largest non-profit air ambulance in the US, serving Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana.
• Lifeguard Aeromed - Fixed-wing air ambulance based out of Fort Worth, Texas serving the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
• LifeLion Critical Care - Air ambulance based at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, serving the Central Pennsylvania area.^[2]
• LifeNet, Inc. - Based in Texarkana, Texas with operations also out of Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Mercy Air 2

• Maryland State Police Aviation Command - division focusing on medical evacuation operations. Aviation also supports ground units of the state and local police. Funding comes from vehicle registration fees.^[3]
• Medflight - Based out of Columbus, Ohio.
• Medway Air Ambulance - Based out of KLZU, Gwinnett County Airport, Lawrenceville, GA. Operates a fleet of Learjet 35A aircraft covering most of the Western Hemisphere excluding Hawaii.
• Mercy Flight Central - Non-profit critical care air medical service located in the central New York region offering rotor wing transport service of critical patients.
• Mercy Flight - Western - Non-profit air medical service located in Western New York offering rotor wing and fixed wing services.
• Mercy Flights - Medford, Oregon. Was the first successful air ambulance in the country, is non-profit. Serves mainly Southern Oregon and Northern California; 150-mile (240 km) radius for helicopter, and almost anywhere West of the Rocky Mountains for the fixed wing airplane, within 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of Medford.
• PennSTAR Flight - Air ambulance service with six medical helicopters serving Eastern Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey.^[4]
• STAT Medevac - based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Trauma Hawk Aero-Medical Program - Palm Beach County, Florida taxpayer funded - trauma transport only
• Trauma Star Air Ambulance(H.A.A.) - Monroe County, Florida taxpayer funded operated by Monroe County Sheriff's Office and Monroe County Fire Rescue - trauma/interfacility transports. Located at Marathon Airport
• UCAN, University of Chicago Aeromedical Network - Chicago, Illinois, Illinois

Incidents

Air Methods had, after the 2006 Mercy Air helicopter accident, a total of 19 accidents leading to the deaths of 21 people nationwide according to the National Transportation Safety Board's records.^[5] Air Methods companies had three other fatal accidents, in a 10-year period. On September 7, 2002, three crew members died when a Mercy Air helicopter based in Nevada crashed in Nipton, California after the main rotor blades separated while maneuvering in flight after dark.^[5] In January 2005, an Air Methods helicopter crashed in Washington, D.C. with two dead and one injured, and another crashed in Mississippi killing one.^[6] Craig Yale, the vice president of corporate development for Air Methods, stated in a news conference shortly after the accident that, "We fly over 100,000 hours a year, 85,000 missions a year, and in doing so have had very few fatal accidents over a 10-year period."^[5]

On June 29, 2008, a Bell 407 medical helicopter operated by Air Methods collided with another medical helicopter in Arizona, killing six of the seven aboard both aircraft. Another Air Methods helicopter crashed in May in Wisconsin soon after taking off; three people were killed in that accident: the pilot, flight doctor and flight nurse.^[7]

On September 28, 2008, at approximately 12:30am, Maryland State Police Trooper 2 (Eurocopter AS 365N1 Dauphin, N92MD) disappeared from radar and crashed with five people aboard in Walker Mill Regional Park in Prince George's County.^[8] There were four confirmed fatalities, which included Pilot Stephen Bunker, TFC Mickey Lippy, EMT Tonya Mallard (Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department), and one of the two patients on board. This resulted in the grounding of all aircraft, until the cause is determined, with allied agencies covering the state.^[9] This is the fourth fatal crash in the history of the MSP Aviation Division. The most recent crash prior to this occurred on January 19, 1986.

See also

• Air ambulances in Canada
• Air ambulances in the United Kingdom
• Emergency Aviation in the United Kingdom (disambiguation)
• International SOS, Provider of air ambulance evacuation & repatriation services
• Medical escort
• Medical evacuation

References