HealthNet Aeromedical Services recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the addition of a new EC145e helicopter to its fleet. The aircraft will operate from the organisation’s Morgantown, West Virginia base.
“The power, safety features and advanced medical capabilities of this upgraded aircraft will undoubtedly enhance the ability of our flight teams to save lives,” said Clinton Burley, HealthNet’s president and CEO.
Headquartered in Charleston, West Virginia, HealthNet is a not-for-profit critical care transport provider cooperatively owned and operated by Cabell Huntington Hospital, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine. It has eight helicopter bases in West Virginia and one in Kentucky, and has transported over 90,000 patients since beginning operations in 1986.
The new helicopter joins HealthNet’s all-Airbus fleet, which includes two other EC145s, five EC135s and three EC130s.
“The continued investment in our fleet, coupled with ongoing investments in equipment, staff and training, allows HealthNet, WVU Medicine and our partner members to extend the expertise of our acute care providers to the far reaches of West Virginia and the surrounding region,” noted Christopher Goode, MD, chair of the WVU Department of Emergency Medicine.
The WVU Health System board of directors approved the more than US$7.5 million investment needed to replace the existing EC145 that had served the Morgantown base for over a decade.
“We make a promise to our patients that we will deliver high-quality healthcare to them when they walk through the doors of our hospitals and clinics. The same can be said of the care they receive in the air when they are en route to our hospitals,” stated Albert Wright, Jr, president and CEO of the WVU Health System. “In emergent situations when every minute counts, we need to be sure that level of care starts immediately. With this new HealthNet Aeromedical Services aircraft, we can do that even better than we have in the past.”
