St. Vincent officials announced that effective November 1, 2017, St. Vincent StatFlight, operated by PHI Air Medical, will become the largest air medical provider in Indiana with the addition of the program’s sixth base in Evansville. The new St. Vincent StatFlight base will replace the existing St. Vincent LifeFlight program that has been in service for more than 35 years. St. Vincent is part of Ascension, the nation’s largest Catholic and nonprofit health system.

The new St. Vincent StatFlight branded Airbus EC 135 helicopter will be equipped with state of the art, industry leading technology and equipment, such night vision goggles, Helicopter Traffic Awareness Warning System, Auto Pilot and will be capable of flying with IFR (Instrument Flying Rules) technology in the coming months. Additionally, the new base will carry life-saving blood products and will be capable of transporting specialty patients that require an intra-aortic balloon pump or ventricular assist device.

We are proud of our continued partnership with St. Vincent to help provide the citizens of Indiana with this critical, life-saving air medical service,” explained Sean O’Neal, Regional Director for PHI Air Medical. “With this expansion in services, we look forward to serving the communities in central Indiana and now the Tri-State area in southern Indiana.”

St. Vincent partnered with PHI Air Medical in 2010 to form the St. Vincent StatFlight program, which is accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Medical Transport Services (CAMTS). Other locations for StatFlight include Anderson, Greencastle, West Lafayette, Rushville and Seymour, Indiana.

Due to the outstanding clinical quality from the Evansville LifeFlight team, many of these employees will transition to St. Vincent StatFlight staff. It is expected that approximately 90 people, comprised of pilots, mechanics, nurses, paramedics and communication specialists across state will now be a part of St. Vincent StatFlight.

“We are grateful for the outstanding work that the LifeFlight program has provided to this community for the last 35 years,” said Dan Parod, President, St. Vincent, Southwest Region. “As we begin to take the next step in enhancing our air medical service we want the communities we serve to be assured that they will continue to have access to this vital service.”