New emergency air transport service to launch at RGH

A new regional emergency air transport service is set to launch Tuesday at Roosevelt General Hospital.

AeroCare 12 will service eastern New Mexico communities with its primary focus being Roosevelt and Curry counties.

In a statement from AeroCare, the Bell 407 helicopter “allows rapid transport from rural communities to tertiary healthcare facilities in Lubbock, Amarillo and Albuquerque.”

This new addition is to provide the deployment and transport of critically ill or injured patients at a much faster response time, according to AeroCare.

The partnership with RGH and AeroCare has taken about one year to complete, according to the Portales hospital’s chief executive, Kaye Green. “During that time, air medical services were provided by AeroCare Base 2, located in Clovis,” Green said.

RGH has seen financial struggles this year, but hospital officials said the new service won’t be costly.

“AeroCare covers all their own expenses, aside from offering up the land for the helipad and their sleep quarters. RGH has no additional expenses to host base 12,” said Jeanette Orrantia, director of marketing and public relations for RGH. “Through this great partnership, RGH has the opportunity to bring such an important life-saving service to our community.”

AeroCare bills patients directly for the services. They will send the bill to the patients’ insurance, and whatever that insurance doesn’t cover, the patient pays out-of-pocket.

According to AeroCare, “Having an on-site air medical helicopter allows for rapid transport of patients by AeroCare’s highly trained critical care patient experts.”

The medical flight team consists of trained critical care nurses and paramedics. The aircraft itself is equipped with the latest medical and flight safety technology. “You could think of it as a flying ICU,” AeroCare officials said.

A ribbon cutting is scheduled to celebrate the launch of AeroCare 12 at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at RGH. The event will be held at the helipad by the emergency room.

To RSVP for the event, email: [email protected]