The Woman’s Hospital of Texas (Woman’s) and REACH Air Medical Services, LLC (REACH) announce a collaboration to provide life-saving 24/7 emergency medical helicopter service to Houston and outlying areas. The service will provide air transport exclusively for high-risk maternal and neonatal patients to Woman’s for specialized care.

Woman’s and REACH are combining resources to provide a high level of quality care for mothers and babies needing specialized treatment. The collaboration provides unique staffing using highly-trained nurses and paramedics from each organization, configured specifically for high-risk maternal and neonatal transport service.

“Woman’s is truly proud to establish a partnership with a quality company like REACH,” said Linda Russell, CEO of The Woman’s Hospital of Texas. “Our respective missions, values and emphasis on specialized care for the smallest of patients and high-risk mothers will allow us to provide a faster, more efficient means of emergency medical transport service.”

REACH will provide paramedics, pilots, aviation maintenance technicians and a state-of-the-art EC-135 helicopter equipped to carry an incubator or isolette enabling care of neonates en route. Woman’s will provide neonatal and maternal nurses to complete the emergency flight teams. The program, called AIR CARE, a service of The Woman’s Hospital of Texas, operated by REACH Air Medical Services, will locate the aircraft and 24/7 crew quarters at the main Woman’s campus in Houston.

“For nearly 25 years, REACH has enjoyed tremendous success in providing safe and efficient emergency patient transport, and we are pleased to join with Woman’s as our partner. We are impressed by, and honored to work with, The Woman’s Hospital of Texas,” responded REACH CEO, Jim Adams.

The EC-135 helicopter, capable of cruising at a speed of 160 miles per hour, will operate under instrument flight rules (IFR), allowing flights in a variety of weather conditions. All REACH aircraft are equipped with night vision goggles (NVGs) to enhance safety of nighttime operations, as well as helicopter-specific terrain awareness equipment.

Service begins Wednesday, November 16, 2011, with the aircraft located on Woman’s rooftop helipad in Houston.

About The Woman’s Hospital of Texas

The Woman’s Hospital of Texas is an acute care hospital located near the Texas Medical Center with 397 licensed beds and home to nearly 600 board-certified physicians. The hospital was established in 1976 by a group of doctors who recognized the need for a facility focused solely on the care of women and infants. In keeping with this vision, Woman’s offers a full range of women’s services, including breakthrough developments in minimally invasive surgery and urogynecology as well as an antepartum unit, 36 labor and delivery rooms, a medical surgical unit and 124-bed Levels II and III Neonatal Intensive Care nurseries. Since its inception, Woman’s has welcomed nearly 200,000 babies into the world and delivers more babies in Harris County than any other hospital. Well equipped to handle everything from preemies weighing less than 1,500 grams to high-order multiples, the hospital garners recognition for its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) as well as its impressive outcomes for its tiniest patients. Visit their website at www.womanshospital.com .

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, which may reduce or eliminate 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. Visit their website at www.REACHair.com .