Baptist LifeFlight Sold

June 25, 2014

Air Methods Corporation announced Tuesday that it has acquired the four bases of Baptist LifeFlight, owned by Baptist Healthcare of Pensacola. The change was effective immediately, with no change to service.

The four bases are located in Pensacola, near Mobile, Greenville, Ala., and Hattiesburg, Miss. each with an EC130 aircraft already owned and operated by Air Methods. Prior to the acquisition, Air Methods staffed each location with five employees, including four pilots and one mechanic per base. As part of the acquisition, 43 clinical Baptist employees joined the Air Methods team. In addition, Air Methods acquired substantially all of Baptist LifeFlight’s assets, including the program name, branding and medical equipment.

“Air Methods is honored that Baptist Hospital has chosen to allow us to continue the proud history and tradition of this high quality service to the community. As BHC’s partner in providing high quality aviation services to the region, we now will have the opportunity to serve the Gulf Coast region through all facets of our air medical skill sets. We are proud that most of the clinical and management professionals from Baptist LifeFlight have joined Air Methods as we move forward in this new service model,” said Mike Allen, Air Methods’ president of Domestic Air Medical Services.

Baptist LifeFlight was the third hospital-based aeromedical helicopter program in the United States. The program will continue to fly adult and pediatric critically-ill and injured patients to Baptist Hospital and Sacred Heart hospitals in Pensacola, Baptist South Hospital in Montgomery,  University of South Alabama in Mobile and Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, Miss.

The Air Medical Services Division of Air Methods  is the largest provider of air medical transport services in the United States.

Pictured top: A patient is wheeled to an awaiting LifeFlight helicopter in Molino. Pictured inset: An accident victim is loaded in a Pensacola-based LifeFlight helicopter in the parking lot of the Dollar General in Century. Pictured below: First responders from across the area learn about the LifeFlight helicopters during a training session held at the Walnut Hill Fire Station. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

10 Responses to “Baptist LifeFlight Sold”

  1. BH on July 19th, 2014 9:45 pm

    Yeah, be ready for those nice, large helicopters to disappear. Air Methods has been changing other programs from EC135s and other decent size helicopters over to the AS350s. They better stay on them about maintenance too, which they’ve lacked with some other programs.

  2. Mark T on June 25th, 2014 8:31 pm

    We better pray we never need life flight , cause it’s like 30,000 dollars a short trip !!

  3. Ray on June 25th, 2014 11:29 am

    They are just like EMS they will take the patient where they request or will take the patient to the nearest hospital if A trauma exists.

  4. Kc on June 25th, 2014 10:44 am

    I work Ems and yes they do fly to WF

  5. William on June 25th, 2014 10:42 am

    “But they do fly to West Florida, to pick up Trauma’s that walk in the front door.”

    The story, from the company’s press release, lists the hospital *to* which patients will be flown in the future, not from. They fly to probably over a dozen smaller hospitals (Atmore, Brewton, Jay, Gulf Breeze, Andalusia, Evergreen, etc) to transport patients to the larger hospitals listed.

  6. William on June 25th, 2014 10:26 am

    West Florida Hospital was not listed in the company’s press release where “critically-ill and injured patients” will be flown.

  7. Trauma on June 25th, 2014 10:16 am

    But they do fly to West Florida, to pick up Trauma’s that walk in the front door.

  8. Ken on June 25th, 2014 10:09 am

    The do fly to WFH. they will fly to any hospital even without a helipad as long as ground transport can take them. They take a lot of cardiac patients to WF. They also can divert to any facility if pt codes while in flight.

  9. Nichole on June 25th, 2014 9:18 am

    No they don’t because WFH isn’t classified as a “Trauma Center”.

  10. Gus on June 25th, 2014 7:22 am

    They don’t fly to West Flordia Hospital?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News