Air Evac Lifeteam celebrates 30 years of service

BELOW: Members of the Air Evac Lifeteam and a map of the agency’s bases.

From Illinois Business Journal news services

Air Evac Lifeteam is celebrating 30 years of providing access to definitive health care for thousands of medically underserved people in the region.

The company began in West Plains, Mo., on Aug. 1, 1985, with one helicopter and a dream to provide air medical service to citizens in the small southern Missouri community. Today, Air Evac Lifeteam has more than 115 air medical bases across 15 states, and is the nation’s largest independently owned and operated air medical provider.

Air Evac Lifeteam President Seth Myers said the company’s model was very different from other air medical providers.

“The founders wanted to put a helicopter where it was needed most – in a rural community,” Myers said. “At the time, nearly all of the medical helicopters were based at receiving medical centers in cities. In 1985, a community-based air medical service was unheard of. After 30 years, we are still a community-based air medical service, and it is a compliment that a majority of the industry has changed its model to be community-based, too. I am extremely proud to represent this company and the people who have made it what it is today.”

Many of Air Evac’s bases serve the St. Louis metropolitan area (bringing patients from the medically underserved areas to the receiving facilities in St. Louis). These include Mount Vernon and Marion in Illinois and several bases in Missouri.

Air Evac Lifeteam serves as the critical link to improved response time and immediate access to medical care facilities for numerous medically underserved communities, Myers said. An Air Evac Lifeteam crew is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, standing ready to deliver the care needed at the scene of an accident or medical emergency.

Crews include a pilot, a flight nurse and a flight paramedic.

For more information about Air Evac Lifeteam, visit Lifeteam.net