SHANDSCAIR TO OFFER ENHANCED SERVICES TO REGION WITH NEW EC155

June 3, 2014

ShandsCair Flight Program, the air medical transport service of UF Health, has taken delivery of a new Airbus Helicopters EC155 specially customized for transporting critically ill patients. The helicopter was purchased from Airbus Helicopters Inc. (AHI) in Grand Prairie, and will be operated by Med-Trans Corp.

The new helicopter was recently delivered from Metro Aviation in Shreveport, which designed and installed the customized medical transport equipment. Metro Aviation received an FAA Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for a complete Emergency Medical System kit and associated options for the EC155 B1 in December of 2011. “Metro Aviation has been a premier completion partner. We could not be more pleased with the process and final product,” said ShandsCair Flight Program Director Staccie Allen. “The level of care we provide is significantly enhanced by the increased speed and distance we can now travel.”

ShandsCair will base the EC155 out of Gainesville, Fla. With the helicopter’s added speed, 360-nautical mile range and spacious cabin, along with the mission specific equipment, ShandsCair will be able to provide high quality air medical transport service to much of the southeastern U.S.

ShandsCair chose the EC155 for its missions after an extensive review of available helicopters, said Allen. Among the key factors that led ShandsCair to choose the EC155, were cabin size and range.

“What we wanted to accomplish in our mission dictated the aircraft we evaluated,” Allen said. “We are a very unique medical institution in a small university town serving a large rural area. We needed to be able to transport two patients at one time.”

“The EC155 is the right-size aircraft for our program,” said Allen. The helicopter’s long range will enable the program to transport patients non-stop to and from distant facilities, missions that previously required the use of both a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft. “It does everything we were hoping to do,” Allen said.

Working with Airbus Helicopters Inc., ShandsCair selected the EC155 and specified the customized interior and medical equipment after extensive consultations with the University of Michigan Health System Survival Flight program, which operates three EC155’s that were also completed by Metro Aviation.

“ShandsCair is one of the nation’s finest air medical transport programs and we are honored that after careful evaluation they selected the EC155 as the right helicopter to complement their existing fleet and to provide the capability to offer improved services to their hospitals and patients,” said Treg Manning, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Airbus Helicopters Inc.

The new helicopter is the result of a $12 million investment by UF Health to expand the capacity to serve patients throughout Florida and improve hospital transport times. Med-Trans Corp., based out of Lewisville, Texas and recognized as a leading air medical operator, operates two EC135s for ShandsCair as well as the new EC155.

“ShandsCair is recognized as one of the foremost air medical flight programs in the industry, said Rob Hamilton, Chief Operating Officer of Med-Trans Corp. “We very much value our partnership with UF Health and we are pleased to play a role in their ongoing dedication and service to the many critical patients in need of air medical transport throughout the ShandsCair service region each year.”

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