Life Flight Network is a non profit air and ground critical care transport service based in

Aurora, Oregon Aurora is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. Before being incorporated as a city, it was the location of the Aurora Colony, a religious commune founded in 1856 by William Keil and John E. Schmit. William named the settlement after ...

, in the northern

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, the ...

, with services in Oregon,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, and

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

in the United States.

Operations

Service area

It has 29 air medical bases throughout the Columbia, Willamette and Snake river watersheds.

Bases

Life Flight Network operates bases across the Pacific Northwest in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. *In Oregon there are bases in Aurora, Cottage Grove, Newport, Astoria, Pendleton, Redmond, Ontario, La Grande, Hermiston, and Salem. *In Washington there are bases in Hoquiam, Kelso, Brewster, Moses Lake, Richland, Pullman, Spokane, Dallesport, Port Angeles, Coupeville, and Walla Walla. *In Idaho there are bases at Boise, Burley, Sandpoint, Lewiston, and Coeur d'Alene. *In Montana there are bases in Missoula, Butte, and Bozeman. *It also has fixed-wing bases in Aurora, Boise, Dallesport, Moses Lake, La Grande, Richland, Butte, Lewiston, and Port Angeles. LifeFlight gained part 135 certification in 2013 from the Boise Idaho FSDO. In 2013 LifeFlight chose the Agusta 119KX as its helicopter platform leasing them for 10 years from a Chinese firm. Arizona-based Tri-State Care Flight assisted LFN in bridging the gap by allowing LFN to operate their new aircraft under Tri-State’s 135 certificate while maintaining in-service status and attaining their own part 135 certificate. Currently, LFN is dissolving its A119Kx fleet and replacing them with Bell 429s and Bell 407s as the 10-year lease is coming due.

Recent History and Expansion

In 2015, LFN was awarded the coveted "Program of the Year" award by the Association of Air Medical Services. In 2020, at the request of its owner hospital consortium, LFN began to expand its ground presence in the Portland metro area to include BLS, ALS, and wheelchair van transport services. In March 2021, LFN and Bozeman Health announced a ground service partnership to provide transport services to Bozeman Health patients. At the 2021 Air Medical Transport Conference, LFN was awarded the "Program of the Year" award by the Association of Air Medical Services for the second time. In December 2021, LFN entered into a strategic alliance with Life Link III, which is an air medical transport agency based in Minneapolis, MN. The "alliance will bring the organizations together to collaborate on best practices, process improvement, quality initiatives, and safety, all with a focus on the patients and communities they serve." In July 2022, Ben Clayton was announced as the new CEO of LFN. Prior to becoming CEO, Clayon served as interim CEO and COO, as well as a variety of operational and safety leadership roles. At the 2022 Air Medical Transport Conference, LFN's Neonatal & Pediatric Transport team was awarded the "Neonatal & Pediatric Transport Award of Excellence" by the Association of Air Medical Service. In September 2023, LFN announced that it would further expand its ground operations by partnering with Samaritan Health Services in Lincoln County, OR to provide BLS and ALS inter-facility transports.

Fleet and equipment

As of 2023, Life Flight Network has a combined fleet of medical helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and ground ambulances. Their current aircraft fleet includes: *

AgustaWestland AW119 Koala The AgustaWestland AW119 Koala, produced by Leonardo since 2016, is an eight-seat utility helicopter powered by a single turboshaft engine produced for the civil market. Introduced as the Agusta A119 Koala prior to the Agusta-Westland merger, ...

Eurocopter EC135 The Airbus Helicopters H135, formerly Eurocopter EC135, is a twin-engine civil light utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It is capable of flight under instrument flight rules (IFR) and is outfitted with a digital automatic flig ...

Bell 429 The Bell 429 GlobalRanger is a light, twin-engine helicopter developed by Bell Helicopter and Korea Aerospace Industries. The first flight of the prototype took place on February 27, 2007,Bell 407 The Bell 407 is a four-blade, single-engine, civil utility helicopter. A derivative of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger, the 407 uses the four-blade, soft-in-plane design rotor with composite hub developed for the United States Army's OH-58D Kiowa ...

Pilatus PC-12 The Pilatus PC-12 is a pressurized, single-engined, turboprop aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Stans, Switzerland since 1991. It was designed as a high-performance utility aircraft that incorporates a large aft cargo door in addi ...

Previous aircraft fleet includes: * Cessna Citation CJ4 *

AgustaWestland AW109 The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer Agusta. It was the first all-Italian helicopter to b ...

Crew

Each medical flight typically includes a

Flight Nurse A flight nurse is a registered nurse specializing in the field of providing comprehensive pre-hospital, emergency critical care, and hospital care to a vast scope of patients. The care of these patients is generally provided during aeromedical ...

Flight Paramedic A flight paramedic is a paramedic who provides care to sick and injured patients in an aeromedical environment. Typically a flight paramedic works with a registered nurse, physician, respiratory therapist, or another paramedic. Flight paramedics mu ...

, and

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

. The neonatal-pediatric specialty team consists of a neonatal nurse and

respiratory therapist A respiratory therapist is a specialized healthcare professional, healthcare practitioner trained in Intensive care medicine, critical care and cardio-pulmonary medicine in order to work therapeutically with people who have acute critical condit ...

Ownership and funding

The consortium of owner hospital systems includes Oregon Health & Science University, Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, and Providence Health & Services. Life Flight is supported by annual membership fees and other sources of revenue.

References

External links

* {{Airlines of the United States, state=collapsed Air ambulance services in the United States Airlines based in Oregon Companies based in Marion County, Oregon Medical and health organizations based in Oregon Non-profit organizations based in Oregon Aurora, Oregon