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REACH Air Medical Services and Methodist Healthcare Launch Second Emergency Helicopter Base in Pearsall, Texas

Dépèche transmise le 14 décembre 2011 par Business Wire

REACH Air Medical Services and Methodist Healthcare Launch Second Emergency Helicopter Base in Pearsall, Texas

SANTA ROSA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--REACH Air Medical Services (REACH) and Methodist Healthcare (Methodist) announce the expansion of their partnership providing emergency helicopter service to include a second base in Pearsall, Texas, called Methodist AirCare 2. Service began on December 12, 2011. AirCare 2 will provide life-saving 24/7 emergency medical helicopter service from a base located 50 miles southwest of San Antonio where AirCare 1 is located. AirCare 2 will help meet the increasing air ambulance demands of this large region and will better serve and support the community.

“It became apparent that a second base in the region would provide enhanced patient care and customer satisfaction through the mutual support these two bases allow.”

“Our partnership with Methodist has been extraordinarily successful,” said Jim Adams, CEO of REACH. “It became apparent that a second base in the region would provide enhanced patient care and customer satisfaction through the mutual support these two bases allow.”

REACH also announces new hospital partnerships within the southwest Texas region. These include Frio Regional Hospital in Pearsall, Val Verde Regional Medical Center in Del Rio, as well as La Salle and Frio County pre-hospital providers. The aircraft and highly-trained teams will serve the region with hospital-to-hospital transports as well as responding to 9-1-1 emergency calls.

“We are very excited about the opportunity to increase our services and availability for this region and these customers,” stated Adams. “For nearly 25 years, REACH has enjoyed tremendous success in providing safe and efficient emergency patient transport, and we are pleased to grow with Methodist Healthcare as our partner,” said Adams.

AirCare 2 will be staffed with critical care paramedics and nurses, pilots and aviation maintenance technicians. A Bell 407 helicopter equipped with night vision goggles (NVGs) to enhance safety of nighttime operations, as well as helicopter-specific terrain awareness equipment, will be placed in service.

About REACH Air Medical Services

REACH Air Medical Services, headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, supports operations in Concord, Imperial, Lakeport, Marysville, Redding, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Stockton, Thermal, and Upland, California as well as Corvallis, Oregon and San Antonio and Houston, Texas. REACH provides air medical transport services utilizing rotor- (helicopter) and fixed-wing (airplane) aircraft regionally and nationally and has performed more than 55,000 air ambulance missions since its inception in 1987. REACH offers a membership program, REACH for Life; a primary benefit of which is no out-of-pocket expenses when members are transported by REACH within the areas served. REACH has been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Services (CAMTS) since 1998. www.REACHair.com

About Methodist Healthcare

Methodist Healthcare is the largest and most preferred health system in South Texas with 24 facilities. Eight facilities are acute care hospitals: Methodist Hospital; Methodist Heart Hospital; Methodist Children’s Hospital; Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital; Northeast Methodist Hospital; Metropolitan Methodist Hospital; Methodist Stone Oak Hospital and Methodist Ambulatory Surgery Hospital. www.sahealth.com

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