Air Evac critical for rural areas

Members of the Air Evac Lifeteam crew flying out of Whitfield Regional Hospital is only one of 140 helicopter air ambulance bases across 15 states.

Nathan Gann, Membership Sales Manager for Air Evac Lifeteam, spoke to Rotarians at their meeting Wednesday on the benefits of being an Air Evac Member. The cost of transport by helicopter is steep, and insurance doesn’t always cover the cost.

The company was founded in 1985 by a group of citizens in rural West Plains, Mo., who lived two hours away from the nearest critical care center. Their goal was to provide air medical transportation and ensure access to emergency health care for their remote community located in the Missouri Ozark region.

Company founders believed that the people who needed air medical transport the most were those living in rural areas.

The company today is part of Global Medical Response (GMR). Flight crews consist of a pilot, flight nurse and flight paramedic. They are on duty all day every day to respond to the scene of an emergency or provide transportation between medical facilities.