News Release
AIR ANGELS - Air Angels Moving Service to LaPorte Airport
Feburary 14, 2006
(From The Herald-Argus, http://heraldargus.com)
Posted Online: February 14, 2006
Air Angels moving service to LP airport
Daniel Przybyla,
1-866-362-2167 Ext. 13865, dprzybyla@heraldargus.com
LAPORTE -- More emergency medical help is on the way for LaPorte
County -- and now, it won't take as long to get here.
LaPorte Municipal Airport has agreed to a lease with Air Angels Inc.,
a medical helicopter service that will begin operations in a hangar at the
airport March 1.
The primary medical providers Air Angels will be serving, as a result
of its relocation from South Bend Regional Airport, are LaPorte Hospital,
Saint Anthony Memorial Hospital and Starke County Hospital.
In addition to the three hospitals, the Air Angels service area will
cover a 75-mile radius around the LaPorte airport.
LaPorte Hospital President Mike Haley supports the idea of having a
medical helicopter much closer to LaPorte to airlift patients to hospitals
in Chicago and Indianapolis.
"Anytime you can have that service closer to home it's a good thing
for patient care. Twenty minutes can make a huge difference," he said.
Currently, helicopters in Indianapolis and Chicago have to fly to
LaPorte and airlift patients back to the bigger cities for medical
treatment, which takes valuable minutes in a life and death situation.
Air Angels has facilities at Clow International Airport in
Bolingbrook, Ill., DuPage Airport in west Chicago, and Forest Park, Ill. Air
Angels will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week out of a hangar on the
airport's east side. There will be one pilot per 12-hour shift, along with a
nurse and paramedic.
Air Angels President Mike Dermont said Monday that Memorial Hospital
in South Bend was moving toward creating its own helicopter service rather
than contracting Air Angels' services.
Dermont said he expects Air Angels to handle more calls in its new
location, as well as providing overlapping coverage with its Illinois sites.
"It gives us the ability to grow into the region. It makes sense to
place the helicopter in an area where it's going to be most utilized," he
said.
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