An informational session will be held at 7 p.m. on June 28 at the Sistersville Volunteer Fire Department to educate the community on the steps to take in an emergency situation and introduce residents to the services offered by Air Evac Lifeteam.

Air Evac Lifeteam was established by a group of local citizens to provide air medical transportation and ensure immediate access to definitive health care for their remote community in the Missouri Ozark region. Although air ambulances were primarily based in metropolitan areas at the time, the company founders believed that the people who need air medical transport the most were those living in rural areas, often far away from a hospital.

That was 1985.

Today, Air Evac Lifeteam has grown to be the largest independently owned and operated membership-supported air ambulance service in the United States. Since its founding, the company has safely transported more than 225,000 patients in need, serving as the critical link to improved response time and immediate access to medical care facilities for numerous rural communities across 14 states.

The company is supported by an expanding community of more than 875,000 members, who pay an annual fee and are entitled to be transported free-of-charge for life- or limb-threatening medical emergencies. Membership support enables the company to provide its services in rural areas that otherwise might not be capable of supporting an air ambulance service.

As the company has evolved since 1985, it has remained true to its original mission and patient first focus through an unwavering dedication to:

– Remaining an independent provider, which makes it possible to impartially work with other health care providers, including over 1,700 diverse referral sources representing over 1,000 hospitals and over 700 EMS agencies, to ensure patients are cared for and transported to the most appropriate medical facility;

– Providing service to the medically underserved areas of rural America, often in rural areas that other air ambulance companies may not adequately service;

– Responding rapidly through a contiguous footprint of mutually-supporting bases in collaboration with numerous hospitals, physicians, 911 centers and EMS agencies;

– Taking an active role in the advancement of health care services in the communities it services, through local interest in, knowledge of and relationships in each community;

– Providing superior patient care and aviation operations associated with substantial financial resources, a professionally managed, common infrastructure and standardized, centrally controlled operations.

Air Evac Lifeteam’s mission-driven culture remains at the heart of the organization and reflects its singular purpose as it continues to establish bases throughout rural America.

For more information, call 800-793-0010 or visir www.lifeteam.net.