Air Evac Lifeteam, the largest independently-owned and operated air ambulance provider in the country, has expanded its service area in Georgia with the opening of a base in Carrollton and will serve Douglas County. Air Evac Lifeteam crews provide on-the-scene medical care and rapid medical transport, as well as transfers between medical facilities.
The base is housed temporarily at Tanner Medical Center in Carrollton while company officials seek a permanent location. The Carrollton base is one of 110 bases in Air Evac Lifeteam’s network of air ambulance services and the eighth in Georgia, with others located in Dublin, Cordele, Ware County, Troup County, Vidalia, Jessup and Statesboro. It will provide employment for 12 to 15 individuals and serve communities within a 70-mile radius of Carrollton. Cobb County is within the base's service area.
“We’ve been working with officials in Carrollton for about nine months making plans for this base in their community,” Air Evac Lifeteam President Seth Myers said. “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.”
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., 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 or three or more.
For more information about Air Evac Lifeteam services, call 1-800-793-0010 or visit www.lifeteam.net.
