The base is being temporarily housed at Tanner Medical Center while company officials seek a permanent location. Air Evac provides on-the-scene medical care and rapid transport, as well as transfers between hospitals.
The Carrollton base joins a network of 100 Air Evac Lifeteam bases, including seven others in Georgia – Dublin, Cordele, Ware County, Troup County, Vidalia, Jessup and Statesboro.
The Carrollton site is expected to provide 12 to 15 jobs and serve communities within a 70-mile radius of Carrollton.
“We’ve been working with officials in Carrollton for about nine months, making plans for this base in their community,” said Air Evac Lifeteam President Seth Myers. “We’re excited to help them make this air ambulance base a reality.”
“The availability of this service in Carrollton will help make our community safer,” said Loy Howard, president and CEO of Tanner Health System. “For patients who need rapid medical transport – both to and from Carrollton – Air Evac Lifeteam can make all the difference in the world.”
Larry Steed, executive vice president and chief administrative operations officer for Tanner Health System, said the service is a great addition to the health care services already in place in Carrollton.
“The emergency medicine capabilities of our hospitals are substantial,” Steed said. “The opening of our new 40-bed emergency department early next year also will greatly expand our capacity. But our chief interest is always in making sure that the residents we serve are receiving the care they need, whether through us or one of the few higher-level trauma centers in our state. Having Air Evac Lifeteam located in our service area will help assure improved access to air transport services.”
An Air Evac Lifeteam crew, which includes a registered nurse, paramedic and pilot, is on call at each base 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Crew members are trained in advanced pre-hospital care in order for medical care to begin at the scene and continue en route to the hospital. This same training also allows for critical care hospital-to-hospital transfers.
The Carrollton helicopter is also equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment, including the use of Night Vision Goggles (NVGs). NVGs are particularly useful on nights with little illumination in identifying emergency scene landing zones in difficult terrain, such as mountains and hills, by raising night-time vision to 20/20.
Air Evac Lifeteam, headquartered in O’Fallon, Mo., is the largest independently-owned air ambulance service in the country, serving medical care facilities across 15 states.
“The Carrollton base is a great addition to the already quality health services available in this area,” said Myers. “We would like to thank the officials at Tanner Health System for recognizing the benefit of this service to their patients and residents of surrounding counties. We look forward to working with them in serving their patients.”
Myers said the company is excited about expanding its service area into Carrolton.
“Our mission is to save lives and positively impact outcomes during life-or-limb, threatening medical emergencies, and we can do this by providing rapid access to definitive emergency health care for those people who are often located far away from a major trauma center or a medical facility that can provide the specialty medical care they may need,” he said.
“The people in this area are very fortunate to have quality health care services already available,” Myers said. “Our goal is to be an extension of those services by providing rapid transport in critical medical situations.”
Air Evac Lifeteam was one of the first air ambulance services in the country to offer a membership program. Members pay an annual fee and, if they are flown by Air Evac, they do not have to pay for the flight. Memberships are valid throughout Air Evac Lifeteam service areas, so members are covered while traveling through Air Evac Lifeteam service areas. Annual memberships are $50 for an individual, $55 for a couple and $60 for a household of three or more.
More information about Air Evac Lifeteam services is available by calling 1-800-793-0010, or on its website, www.lifeteam.net.
In 1977 there was no board of commissioners; rather Horry Duncan ruled the county like a monarchy with West GA Ambulance serving as a faithful serf.
20 years ago another local business man challenged the exclusive contract West GA held with Carroll County, the subsidy was approaching $750,000 and response times and quality care was not up to state identified standards dictate by the State Office of EMS.. In Fact West GA brought in the state's regional Health Director from Lagrange to take the lead in "running the new Ambulance Service" "Out of town". Sound familiar? Go back and read the demise of our Health Department Medical Director.
The driving purpose for having quality Advance Pre-hospital care during transport is more about money than it is about quality care issues with the parties involved.
The new Helicopter service is launching an attractive cost for their Membership program. a family pays App $60.00 and if they have a need for the service, they send the helicopter with no pre-payment guarantees on the front end. A little more history, Metro Ambulance created the firs Ambulance membership program in the southeast. They had modeled it after the Louisiana program. West GA attempted to carry on the program, but it was never as successful under the West GA Management
It will be interesting to see what barriers are put in place to keep this needed service from ever moving a critically injured patient or turning a Rotor in this county.
I wish them luck!