MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (November 15, 2021) – Air Evac Lifeteam and Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital today announced plans to provide a dedicated medical helicopter to Rutherford County. The Ascension Saint Thomas StatFlight-branded BELL 407GXi helicopter, operated by Air Evac Lifeteam, will provide emergency air medical coverage to Rutherford County and surrounding communities.
Each crew consists of an Air Evac pilot, nurse, and paramedic who have extensive education and experience in their field. The crew is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to transport critically ill and injured patients to the most appropriate Middle Tennessee facilities. StatFlight, operated by Air Evac, will service a 70-100 mile radius from Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford and greatly reduce transport times to definitive care.
“StatFlight can significantly decrease the transport time of a patient and improve outcomes when precious minutes can be the difference between life and death,” said Teresa Collins, chief nursing officer, Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital. “We are honored to work together with Air Evac Lifeteam to bring this aircraft to Rutherford County,” said Gordon Ferguson, president and CEO, Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital.
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“Air Evac Lifeteam is proud to provide quality helicopter air ambulance service for Ascension Saint Thomas,” said Jay Chappelle, vice president operations of Southeast region, Global Medical Response. “Air Evac has served Tennessee residents and visitors since 1998, and we look forward to working with Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford to continue our mission of providing access to a higher level of emergency healthcare.”
StatFlight is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2022.
About Ascension Saint Thomas
In Tennessee, Ascension Saint Thomas operates 10 hospital campuses with an 11th underway, in addition to a comprehensive network of affiliated joint ventures, medical practices, clinics and rehabilitation facilities that cover a 68-county area and employ more than 10,000 associates. Across the state, Ascension Saint Thomas provided more than $154 million in community benefit and care of persons living in poverty in fiscal year 2021. Serving Tennessee for 20 years, Ascension is a faith-based health care organization committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable.
About Ascension
Ascension is a faith-based healthcare organization dedicated to transformation through innovation across the continuum of care. As one of the leading non-profit and Catholic health systems in the U.S., Ascension is committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. In FY2020, Ascension provided $2.4 billion in care of persons living in poverty and other community benefit programs. Ascension includes more than 160,000 associates and 40,000 aligned providers. The national health system operates more than 2,600 sites of care – including 139 hospitals and more than 40 senior living facilities – in 19 states and the District of Columbia, while providing a variety of services including clinical and network services, venture capital investing, investment management, biomedical engineering, facilities management, risk management, and contracting through Ascension’s own group purchasing organization.
About Air Evac Lifeteam
Air Evac Lifeteam is the nation’s leading provider of helicopter air ambulance services. Crews consisting of a pilot, a flight nurse and a flight paramedic, are on duty 7 days a week to respond to the scene of a medical emergency or transport patients between medical facilities. The company operates more than 150 air medical bases across 18 states. For more information, please visit Lifeteam.net. Air Evac Lifeteam is part of the Global Medical Response family of companies. Global Medical Response, Inc. is the industry-leading air, ground, specialty and residential fire services, and managed medical transportation organization. With more than 38,000 employees, GMR delivers compassionate, quality medical care, primarily in the areas of emergency and patient relocation services in the United States and around the world. For more information, visit www.globalmedicalresponse.com.
