Novant expanding lifesaving care options with new AirLink helicopter

Novant Health has expanded its operations in Rowan County with AirLink 4, a helicopter based at both the Mid-Carolina Regional Airport and a helipad on top of the Rowan Regional Medical Center.

“I’ve been here for a long time and Rowan County is a tight-knit community. Everything that we do at the medical center, we have the heart of the citizens that we serve here in mind. We want to take care of those that live here, that work here, that play here and this is a service that’s able to extend that care,” said Gary Blabon, president of the Novant Health Rowan Regional Medical Center.

On Friday, Aug. 23, the company hosted a ribbon-cutting for the new service and showed off the new helicopter and lauded its flight and nursing crews. The pilots will work 12-hour shifts while the nurses and paramedics will work 24-hour shifts, said Blabon. The crew includes a total of eight people, two three-person crews, an operations supervisor and a PRN, or as-needed nurse.

“You have the brightest team that are geared up and ready to serve this community. I’ve watched as they have sacrificed countless hours to prepare themselves for this opportunity. I believe that they are poised to do remarkable things in the community,” said Kevin Hodge, AirLink’s chief transport nurse.

Jeff Kuehn, the operations supervisor for the crew, said that the helicopter will allow the organization to provide around-the-clock intensive care unit-level support to patients throughout the area.

“An ambulance will get sent, a fire truck gets sent and they’re able to establish the primary care, with our EMTs and our firefighters. And then we get what’s called ALS care, advanced life support, and those are our paramedics, they get there and they all have a different skill set. If that patient falls outside of the skill set of those clinicians then they call a helicopter. We’re able to provide ICU care, which is the highest level of care you can get in a hospital, literally on the side of the road,” said Kuehn.

The service will replace MedFlight, who provided the flight services as a third-party vendor. After Novant separated with MedFlight, it worked to provide the AirLink service, which utilizes Apollo MedFlight aircrafts that are flown and staffed by Novant Health clinicians and employees.

“We travel at about an average of 135 mph and we don’t have to deal with traffic. Can I give a specific time? Not really, it depends on exactly where we’re going. Our standard launch time is less than 10 minutes. Once we’re up in the air, I’ll give an example, last night we flew to Denton in Davidson County and from the hospital to Denton took us 11 minutes. I drove that same thing, I met the helicopter and it took me 40 minutes in my car with no traffic. It’s a huge difference,” said Kuehn.

Blabon said that while the helicopter will be based in Rowan County, sharing hangar space with the N.C. State Highway Patrol, it will also service the surrounding areas. Currently, AirLink operates primarily in the coastal region of North Carolina and transports approximately 1,600 patients a year, said Apollo MedFlight CEO Lee McCammon. With the expansion into Rowan County and the surrounding areas, that number is expected to increase to over 2,000 patients transported annually.

“I believe that we’ll be an addition to the footprint that already exists of remarkable care that’s already been delivered for quite some time in this space. Gary, your team’s done a remarkable job on not only welcoming us, but continuing to deliver on that promise. So we’re super excited to be part of this family and here’s to a great future,” said Hodge.

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