CALSTAR Air Medical Services, a subsidiary of REACH Air Medical Holdings, has announced that it will open a new air medical transport base in Santa Cruz County California. The base will provide emergency air medical transport services to the communities of Santa Cruz County and the surrounding regions.

“We are incredibly proud of this expansion,” said Anna McNamara-Blair, Vice President of Service Delivery. “CALSTAR and REACH have been providing care to the residents of Santa Cruz County for more than three decades now, and we look forward to continuing that service from our new location. The opening of this base really comes full circle for me, having grown up in Santa Cruz and began my career in EMS as a volunteer firefighter in the San Lorenzo Valley. I know it will be of great benefit to the community.”

The year-round air medical base is staffed by a team of highly trained and experienced pilots, clinicians, and aircraft maintenance technicians. The Airbus EC 135 helicopter that has been designated for the Santa Cruz region is medically-configured and equipped with the latest in avionics and safety features. The IFR equipped aircraft will also have GPS approach capabilities that will allow transports to and from Dominican Hospital during inclement weather.

CALSTAR operates several additional air medical transport bases along the Pacific Coast – including Santa Clara, Santa Barbara, and Monterey Counties. The close proximity of each of these locations allows for additional air transport coverage for each of these counties – an added benefit to the community.

CALSTAR is a participating provider in the AirMedCare Network (AMCN), the nation’s largest air medical transport membership program. When transported by CALSTAR, AMCN members incur no out of pocket expense for a medically necessary flight. Membership is just $85 a year for an entire household or $65 a year for seniors. In addition to covering flight costs for CALSTAR, membership extends to AMCN’s 320 base locations across 38 states