North Colorado Med Evac offers flights for high-risk obstetrics
GREELEY, Colo. (July 7, 2010) – Expectant mothers who face a health crisis and need emergency air transport now can benefit from the services of North Colorado Med Evac. Service began Tuesday, July 6.
The accredited critical care air transport service is based at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley with a second aircraft at the Erie Municipal Airpark. With the addition of specialized High-Risk Obstetrics crews, pregnant patients at risk for complications to either the mother or fetus can be safely transported by helicopter to hospitals that specialize in Maternal Fetal Medicine.
North Colorado Med Evac serves a 300-mile radius in northern Colorado, southern Wyoming and western Nebraska with two Bell 407 helicopters. The staff includes 16 flight paramedics, 14 flight nurses and eight pilots serving the region.
To make the new venture possible, North Colorado Med Evac added eight specially trained Labor and Delivery nurses and Medical Director Shane Reeves, MD, to the staff. Dr. Reeves is fellowship trained as a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist.
A high-risk obstetrics flight crew includes the pilot, labor and delivery nurse and a critical care flight nurse.
The flight program at NCMC was established 28 years ago and currently flies more than 1,500 missions per year.
ABOUT NORTH COLORADO MEDICAL CENTER
NCMC is a fully accredited, private, nonprofit facility licensed to operate 398 beds. It serves as a regional medical center with community-based and specialty services in a service area including southern Wyoming, western Nebraska, western Kansas and northeastern Colorado. A family-centered obstetrics unit, cardiovascular, oncology, ortho/neuro, Level II trauma, Western States Burn Center and acute inpatient rehabilitation are among the many services offered through the medical center. Nearly 400,000 square feet of new patient care space was added to the northern Colorado region when the NCMC opened an expanded facility in December 2005. Included is the CardioVascular Institute of North Colorado featuring state-of-the-art heart services; expanded birthing center and neonatal care unit, new intensive care units and new surgical suites.
ABOUT BANNER HEALTH
Based in Phoenix, Banner Health is one of the largest, nonprofit health care systems in the country and in June was recognized by Thomson Reuters as one of the top 10 health systems in the nation. Banner has 23 facilities that offer an array of services including hospital care, home care, hospice care, nursing registries, surgery centers, laboratories, rehabilitation services. These facilities are located in seven states – Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, and Wyoming.
