Metro Life Flight base to open at Lake Health TriPoint Medical Center
CONCORD TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Lake Health and The MetroHealth System have agreed to open a day base at TriPoint Medical Center to house a Cleveland Metro Life Flight helicopter.
The new base will be located at Lake Health TriPoint Medical Center in Concord Township and will help reduce response time for Lake and Geauga County residents. Operations for day basing are scheduled to start on December 3rd, 2019.
“This is another partnership that helps improve care for our community,” said Cynthia Moore-Hardy, FACHE, President and CEO of Lake Health. “Their presence in Lake County will provide a quicker response time in critical life situations for many of our patients and their families.”
The day base will include MetroHealth positioning a Metro Life Flight aircraft at the Concord Township campus for up to 12 hours a day. The day base will help reduce travel time when transporting trauma patients to the appropriate health care facility and allows a Metro Life Flight helicopter to be closer to where more and more trauma patients are originating from.
“Operating a Life Flight helicopter from Lake County will allow us to more quickly provide life-saving care and transport to more people,” said MetroHealth President and CEO Akram Boutros, MD, FACHE. “We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the Lake Hospital System to help make our community healthier.”
Metro Life Flight was the first air medical program in Northeast Ohio. The program was started in 1982 in order to quickly transport critically injured patients to the nearest and most appropriate trauma level care facility.
MetroHealth operates three Metro Life Flight helicopters strategically based throughout the region. Basing at the Lake Health TriPoint Medical Center will expand coverage into Lake and Geauga counties.
Cleveland Metro Life Flight currently transports about three to six patients a day across the region, or 2,800 patients a year, with emergency air medical services 24/7/365 in Northeast Ohio. Each morning, Metro Life Flight will fly its EC-145 aircraft to TriPoint Medical Center with a four-person crew that will consist of two pilots, one flight nurse and one physician or nurse practitioner.
The yellow and blue EC-145 helicopters used by Metro Life Flight are designed so the medical team can provide the highest level of care to patients during flight, including having immediate access to emergency blood products, ultrasound, and the ability to perform advanced procedures. The EC-145 is equipped with the latest avionics and safety equipment and exceeds all Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board recommendations for the Helicopter EMS industry.
Founded in 1837, MetroHealth is leading the way to a healthier you and a healthier community through service, teaching, discovery, and teamwork. Cuyahoga County’s public, safety-net hospital system, MetroHealth meets people where they are, providing care through five hospitals, four emergency departments and more than 20 health centers. Each day, our nearly 9,000 employees focus on providing our community with equitable healthcare — through patient-focused research, access to care, and support services — that seeks to eradicate health disparities rooted in systematic barriers. For more information, visit metrohealth.org.
