New air ambulance company coming to the Valley

McALLEN – Officials at McAllen Medical Center hope partnering with a new air ambulance service will help patients throughout the entire Rio Grande Valley.

A multi-state medical helicopter ambulance company will begin service from McAllen.

The announcement came Tuesday after Harlingen-based Valley AirCare said last week that it will cease operations Oct. 31.

Air Evac Lifeteam is the largest independently owned air medical provider in the United States, the company said in a statement.

The Air Evac Lifeteam service will be based at McAllen Medical Center, but as an independent air transport service, patients will be taken to the closest appropriate hospital, Heavrin said.

The service will help people who have suffered heart attacks or have been injured in auto accidents as well as other serious incidences.

 “Also, … (for) areas that have maternity services and sick newborns that need to be in a Level III NICU that we provide, it will give us better service for those babies that need that critical attention fast,” according to Joe Riley, CEO for McAllen Medical Center.

McAllen Medical Center and Air Evac have been planning the new base for more than a year. The air medical provider has an air ambulance in a South Texas Health System hospital in Laredo, and another one in Carrizo Springs. The system is MMC’s parent company. Air Evac Lifeteam would be backed up by the Laredo base, the company said in a statement.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for us to expand our trauma services and just serve the communities in the valley much better,” Riley said.

  Because such a broad range of health services are available in the area, Riley said, about the only patients transported out now are burn victims.

Those who do have to be transported are done so through an air ambulance rented from McCreery Aviation. The current air ambulance must stop to refuel while flying to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Riley said.

 McCreery offers three airplanes to transport patients, but the patients need to be transported from the hospital to the airport by ground.

 “They transport them to the airport in an ambulance, we fly them cross country to whichever city they need to go to, then they transport them to the hospital in an ambulance” said BJ Dennis, Chief Pilot for the Charter Deptartment for McCreery Aviation.

This is a more suitable transportation for longer trips like M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston or the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

This will be the first time MMC will have a helicopter in campus.

Air Evac plans to begin operations in October with a Helicopter Bell 407 said Julie Heavrin.

The company will offer annual memberships to residents of the Rio Grande Valley at a cost of $50 for an individual, $55 for a couple and $60 for a household of three or more, Air Evac Lifeteam said in a statement.

Although some major medical insurance policies may pay part of the cost of emergency helicopter transport to the closest hospital, some policies won’t, Heavrin said.

“That’s where a membership comes in,” Heavrin said.

Membership is a form of insurance that would cover the cost of being transported by helicopter in life-threatening situations, Heavrin said. Otherwise, a patient could face the possibility of being billed for the cost, she said.

Depending on the injury or illness involved and distance transported, the cost of a trip in a medical helicopter could run as high as $15,000 to $20,000, she said.

At the 103 bases the company operates, there are now 950,000 members in 15 states, she said.

“We’re excited to offer this service to the residents of South Texas,” said Air Evac Lifeteam president and CEO Seth Myers.

“We’ve been talking with officials with South Texas Health Systems and EMS agencies in the area for several months about locating a base in the region to work with them to meet the health care needs of their communities,” Myers said. “They have welcomed us to the area with open arms. We are happy to make this vision a reality.”

South Texas Emergency Care Foundation Inc., operators of Valley AirCare, announced last week the agency will shut down its service now based at STEC headquarters in Harlingen on Oct. 31 when its contract with Metro Aviation expires.

Metro Aviation flies and maintains a helicopter owned by Valley AirCare. STEC issued a statement last week that it was searching for a replacement company to operate its helicopter, but would cease operations if it does not enter into an agreement with another aviation company.

Valley AirCare began operation Feb. 1, 1995, but costs for operating the service have risen sharply while use of the helicopter has dropped in half during the past year, STEC spokesman Rene Perez said.

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Martha L. Hernández covers health, business and general assignments for The Monitor and El Nuevo Heraldo. You can reach her at (956) 683-4846. Allen Essex is a reporter for the Valley Morning Star.