Air Evac Lifeteam - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Air Evac EMS, Inc., operating as Air Evac Lifeteam (sometimes known as simply Air Evac), and Texas LifeStar (in parts of Central Texas

Central Texas

Central Texas , is a region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is roughly bordered by San Marcos to Fredericksburg to Waco, and to Brenham, and includes the Austin–Round Rock, Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Bryan-College Station, and Waco metropolitan areas...

), is an air ambulance

Air ambulance

An air ambulance is an aircraft used for emergency medical assistance in situations where either a traditional ambulance cannot reach the scene easily or quickly enough, or the patient needs to be transported over a distance or terrain that makes air transportation the most practical transport....

company based in West Plains, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

History

Air Evac Lifeteam was founded in 1985 to serve the rural Missouri Ozark area and now focuses on providing services to the medically underserved areas of rural America, often in those rural areas which other air ambulances may not adequately service. Part of the company's funding comes from a membership program, although membership is not required for service.

The Texas-based rotor-wing operations division of Critical Air Medicine

Critical Air Medicine

Critical Air Medicine is a charter air ambulance service operating from San Diego, California. Critical Air, Inc, the Texas-based rotor-wing operations division of Critical Air Medicine was sold to Air Evac Lifeteam...

was sold to Air Evac Lifeteam on 15 April 2005.

Air Evac Lifeteam acquired Texas LifeStar from Southwest Helicopters, Inc. in September 2006

Air Evac Lifeteam was accredited in 2008 by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems

Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems

The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems , is an independent, non-profit agency which audits and accredits fixed-wing and rotary wing air medical transport services as well as ground inter-facility critical care services in the U.S. to a set of industry-established criteria....

, and is the largest medical transport program under one name to achieve this accreditation.

Air Evac Lifeteam acquired Life Air from Life Ambulance, Inc. in February 2011

Service area

Air Evac has coverage in 14 states: Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

, Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

, Missouri

Missouri

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

and West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

, mainly in the Midwest and Southeast. Air Evac is also the largest air ambulance provider in 8 of its 14 states. In those states, they have 105 bases.

Texas LifeStar

LifeStar operated out of 5 bases in Central Texas

Central Texas

, those bases are listed below.

LifeStar 1 (Formerly flew Bell 407
Bell 407
The Bell 407 is a four-blade, single-engine, civil utility helicopter; a derivative of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger. The 407 uses the four-blade rotor with composite hub developed for the United States Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior instead of the two-blade, semi-rigid rotor of the 206L-4...

Tail# N600CE) - Wilson N. Jones Hospital in Sherman, Texas
Sherman, Texas
Sherman is a city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas, United States. The city's estimated population as of 2009 was 38,407. It is also one of two principal cities in the Sherman-Denison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

and serves the North Texas
North Texas
North Texas is a distinct cultural and geographic area forming the central-northeastern section of the U.S. state of Texas. North Texas is generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, and north of Waco...

and Southern Oklahoma area.
LifeStar 2 (Formerly flew Bell 407 Tail# N407LS) - Metroplex Hospital in Killeen, Texas
Killeen, Texas
Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, The United States. The population was 86,911 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, Killeen had 119,510 people. In 2010 Killeen's population shot to 127,921...

and serves the Killeen/Fort Hood Central Texas area.
LifeStar 3 - Majors Field in Greenville, Texas
Greenville, Texas
Greenville is the county seat, and the largest city, of Hunt County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 25,557....

and serves the Hunt County area East of Dallas.
LifeStar 4 (Formerly flew AS 355F1 Twin Star Tail# N911SW) - Wise Regional Hospital in Decatur, Texas
Decatur, Texas
Decatur is a city located in Wise County, Texas, United States. This city was named after Stephen Decatur, Jr. The population was 5,201 at the 2000 census. A July 1, 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 6,432. It is the county seat of Wise County...

, and serves the area North and West of Fort Worth up to the Red River and the Oklahoma Border.
LifeStar 5 - Glen Rose Medical Center in Glen Rose, Texas
Glen Rose, Texas
Glen Rose is a city in Somervell County, Texas, United States. It is the county seat of Somervell County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,444. Glen Rose is part of the Granbury micropolitan area.-19th century:...

and covers the North Central Texas area.

Life Air

Life Air operated two bases in south central Ohio, those bases listed below

Life Air 2 (Formerly flew Eurocopter AS355F1 Tail# N179LA) - Chillicothe, OH
Life Air 3 (Formerly flew Eurocopter AS355F1 Tail# N911KY) - Portsmouth, OH

Clinical Care

Air Evac Lifeteam employs over 350 registered nurses and 350 paramedics who serve on its medical flight crews, with one nurse and one paramedic serving on each mission.

Medical direction

Medical direction is provided by 14 medical directors located in each of the states served by the company , however Alabama, Illinois, and Texas each have two medical directors. These medical directors work together to develop the Air Evac's medical protocols and ensure medical crews are in compliance with the medical regulations in each area. All of Air Evac Lifeteam medical directors are board certified.

Aircraft

Air Evac owns and operates over 110 Bell 206 Long Ranger helicopters and six Bell 407

Bell 407

The Bell 407 is a four-blade, single-engine, civil utility helicopter; a derivative of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger. The 407 uses the four-blade rotor with composite hub developed for the United States Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior instead of the two-blade, semi-rigid rotor of the 206L-4...

helicopters which are equipped with, Garmin 396 GPS with XM Weather overlay, Garmin 430 GPS VHF, Baker Mode S. Transponder, SkyTrac satellite tracking, Intellistart, night vision goggles, and Air Evac’s proprietary litter system. The company has flown the Bell 206 LongRanger since its founding in 1985 because of its reliability, efficiency, agility and excellent safety record.

Criticisms

Possible health care fraud - On 25 May 2007, Air Evac Lifeteam, said in a statement "Government authorities retrieved documents from the corporate offices of Air Evac Lifeteam today as part of an inquiry concerning billing and health care compliance related matters,"
The company was cleared of any wrongdoing on 2 October 2009.

Call jumping

The New York Times ran an article on May 3, 2005 where they reported that allegations were made the Air Ambulances in general and Air Evac Lifeteam in particular were jumping other air ambulance services' calls and their people were not calling 911 when they needed help, they were calling Air Evac. The article quotes Cliff Rost, the volunteer fire chief in Morrison, Missouri

Morrison, Missouri

Morrison is a town in Gasconade County, Missouri, United States. The first permanent settlement in the town was made by Robert Shobe circa 1828. The population was 123 at the 2000 census.-History:...

. The article also quotes Air Evac's CEO Colin C. Collins who said that Air Evac made only medically necessary flights and that the company had saved "countless lives." He also said Air Evac did not "jump calls."

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.