Response time is oftentimes the most critical element when a person has been involved in an accident and sustained possible life-threatening injuries. Sometimes response time can even be the difference between life and death. So, for many patients, having an air ambulatory service in the city has been the contributing factor to their survival.
Hospital Wing, which is a non-profit air-medical transport consortium of The
Elvis Presley Trauma Center,
Baptist Health Care Systems and
Methodist/Le Bonheur Health Care, recently celebrated its 25th year of service to the city. Hospital Wing provides inter-hospital transfers as well as emergency scene calls within a 150-mile radius of Memphis. Since the company has been in existence, they’ve amassed more than 40,000 flight hours. Hospital Wing currently owns five helicopters and aboard every flight is a paramedic or nurse who is able to stabilize the patient during the ride to the hospital.
Hospital Wing officially celebrated their 25th anniversary in June with an open house at the Memphis hangar. “This is an important milestone for us,” said Lisa Harlow, Hospital Wing office manager. “In the past 25 years, we have gone from one facility and about 35 employees to four facilities and over 70 employees.”
In addition to the Memphis hangar and base, which is located in Downtown Memphis, Hospital Wing has opened three other bases. In August 2004, they opened an expansion based in Brownsville, Tenn. In March 2008, Hospital Wing opened a base in Oxford, Miss., and in September of last year, Hospital Wing opened its fourth base in Selmer, Tenn. All bases are staffed with medical crew 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Memphis Crossroads, the Chamber's quarterly economic development magazine, is available free at select locations throughout Memphis (including Schnuck's markets), via mail for Chamber members and at the Chamber's offices on the 2nd floor of the Falls Building, 22 N. Front Street.