Ontario — One of the nation’s largest air ambulance fleets, Air Methods Corporation, is scheduled to set up a base of operations at the Ontario Municipal Airport beginning August 1. This move is expected to create competition between Air Methods and the area’s current air ambulance, Life Flight Network, two companies that already have a long, and apparently at times difficult, history with one another. Air Methods is one of Life Flight’s contracted aviation vendors, and as such they provide helicopters, pilots and mechanics that are needed to operate several Life Flight Network bases around the clock, said Erick Borland, Life Flight Network marketing director. However, on Monday, a judge in Marion County, Oregon, issued a temporary restraining order for Life Flight against Air Methods due to failure to uphold contractual obligations, Borland said, which essentially severed the ties between the two companies. Life Flight Network’s contract with Air Methods will expire after July 31, and at that point, the FAA-certified aviation vendor for all of Life Flight’s helicopter bases will be TriState CareFlight. Air Methods has announced that it is opening bases in certain areas where Life Flight is already providing air medical service, Borland said. “If this step comes to pass, it doesn’t alter Life Flight’s commitment to providing the communities and residents in the Ontario area with the highest standards of air medical transport,” Borland said. On average, Life Flight Network’s Ontario base has about 370 medical transport flights per year, which averages nearly 31 a month, Borland said. Tracy M. Budz, Air Methods director of corporate communications, confirmed via e-mail that Air Methods will open its air medical base in August with an AS350 rotary-wing aircraft. “It will be staffed (around the clock) with pilots, nurses, paramedics and mechanics, and branded under Air Methods AirLife,” Budz said. “We’re looking forward to bringing this valuable asset to the community.” Air Methods, based in Englewood, Colo., was established in 1980 and currently has over 300 bases of operations in 48 states, according to its website. It has eight maintenance centers throughout the United States as well as a communications center. It has a fleet of more than 400 aircraft, including several fixed-wing planes. Life Flight Network is bringing in 15 new AgustaWestland 119Kx helicopters into service at its bases in Oregon, Idaho and Washington, Borland said. This includes Ontario, which is expecting its new helicopter in mid-July. This helicopter will allow a two-person critical care team and two patients with full-body access and will provide faster patient care with top speeds of 175 mph, Borland said. Borland also said that “a majority” of pilots currently employed by Air Methods and working on behalf of Life Flight decided to leave their parent company and remain with Life Flight. In regards to how having two competing companies that both provide life-saving services to the area could possibly hinder affective medical transport to patients in need, Doug Williams, Treasure Valley Paramedic’s supervisor, said that would never happen. If an air ambulance is needed, Williams said that they would simply ask for the first available one and that having two air ambulances in the area is going to be a benefit to the area. “They’re both good companies and this can only benefit the community,” Williams said. “If we have two helicopters locally, it only makes things better and it doesn’t matter what the name is on the side.”
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 20:10:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015