A UF Health ShandsCair helicopter landed on the hospital’s helipad Tuesday afternoon marking Bay Medical Sacred Heart’s partnership with Shands and Med-Trans Corporation.

The helicopter will service Florida’s panhandle and help to cut down on the time trauma and cardiac patients have to wait to get the care needed.

It will be temporarily stationed at the Bay County Emergency Operations Center until a permanent building for it is finished on the north campus of Gulf Coast State College.

“Now what we’re going to be able to do is extend our reach so we can get patients here quickly, efficiently and safely. There’s a saying in cardiology and that’s that “time is tissue” and what that means is that every second counts for saving a patient’s life,” said Dr. Amir Haghighat, an interventional cardiologist at Bay Medical.

Bay Medical Sacred Heart is the area’s only level two trauma center. According to hospital officials, they hope the partnership will service not only Florida but eventually neighboring states as well.