CareFlight Air and Mobile

CareFlight Air and Mobile

CareFlight provides advanced, fast and safe critical care medical transportation by air and ground for severely injured or ill patients who need immediate treatment.

Our program serves more than 450 agencies in 17 counties. The CareFlight air-medical transport and medical intensive care ground service includes:

  • Four helicopters, based at four locations across the region
  • Five ground Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICU), based at hospitals across the region
  • A team of more than 100 people dedicated to the health and safety of those who need immediate medical care and swift transport

Learn more about CareFlightAir Transportation and CareFlight Ground Transportation.

What We Do

CareFlight provides the fastest air medical transport in the region to Miami Valley Hospital’s Level 1 Trauma Center for patients with serious conditions including: 

  • Cardiac
  • Surgical
  • Obstetric
  • Pediatric
  • Other critical care needs

We partner with local: 

  • Law enforcement
  • Fire departments
  • EMS departments
  • Dispatch centers
  • More than 150 hospitals

CareFlight Air and Mobile Services began in 1983 as the first air medical program in the region and the 65th civilian air ambulance program in the nation. The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems has accredited us since 1994.

We also provide continuous education and outreach to emergency medical personnel, dispatchers, fire and police departments and the community.

Rapid Care Response

Miami Valley Hospital has numerous systems in place to ensure a rapid response when:

  • Patients need CareFlight transportation
  • Patients arrive at the trauma center or emergency room
  • Doctors are needed at the scene of an accident (physician scene response)

Special alerts ensure the right trauma care specialists are ready and waiting to provide immediate and appropriate treatment. These alerts include:

  • Trauma Alert. Needed specialists (such as orthopedic surgeons or neurosurgeons) await the patient’s arrival. Direct-to-operating-room availability shaves even more minutes off the time it takes to get patients to the care they need.
  • AMI (heart attack) Alert. Heart specialists are ready to assess the patient and perform needed imaging and procedures, such as angioplasty to unblock clogged arteries or other surgery.
  • CVA (stroke: ischemic and hemorrhagic) Alert. Stroke specialists assess the patient, perform needed imaging tests, and administer medicines or procedures to restore blood flow to the brain.

The Batphone is another system that speeds help to those who need it. The Batphone reduces the time it takes for hospitals to communicate their needs to CareFlight.

A red phone in each hospital’s emergency room serves as a direct connection to arrange for CareFlight air or mobile transportation to the Level I trauma center. The phone has no dial. A doctor or staff member simply picks up the phone for immediate contact with the Regional Referral Center.

Superior Communication

The CareFlight Air and Mobile Services communications center is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by communication specialists who also have extensive emergency medical services (EMS) experience and are certified by the National Association of Air Medical Communications Specialists.

The Communications Center works with the Regional Referral Center to speed patients in and out of Premier Health facilities. The center uses sophisticated:

  • Mapping programs
  • Satellite tracking systems
  • Advanced radio communication systems, such as Multi-Agency Radio Communications system (MARCS)
  • Computer-aided dispatch

The CareFlight Team

Since 1983, the CareFlight team has served more than 200 hospitals, more than 700 fire and police departments and completed more than 78,000 flights.

CareFlight Air and Mobile Services’ team is made up of more than 100 highly trained professionals, including:

  • A medical director
  • Pilots with extensive and ongoing training including a minimum of 2500 hours of flight
  • Certified flight nurses
  • Experienced critical care paramedics
  • EMT drivers
  • Mechanics
  • Communications specialists

Each CareFlight helicopter staff includes:

  • Two registered nurses with at least three years critical care experience
  • A pilot with a minimum of 2,500 flight hours

Each mobile intensive care unit team includes:

  • A flight nurse
  • EMT driver
  • A paramedic with a minimum of three years of full-time 911 experience

All CareFlight nurses are also dually certified as paramedics and maintain certifications in ACLS, PALS, ITLS and NRP.

Learn More

Keep up with the latest CareFlight Air and Mobile Services news by reading Air Currents magazine.

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Contact Us

If you or a loved one needs emergency or trauma care, our teams of specially trained doctors and nurses are here to help. At Premier Heath, we quickly assess your condition and provide the care and treatment you need.

You can access emergency services at the following locations: