Care Flight

Airdate: 11/03/2003

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Care Flight began in 1981 and was a shared program of Washoe Medical Center, Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center, and Northern Nevada Medical Center, providing fast, high-quality emergency medical service and rescue to the remote and rugged areas of northern Nevada and northeastern California. In 1986, Care Flight was placed under the authority of the Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority to create a comprehensive EMS system with fully integrated ground emergency medical services as well.

Care Flight provides service within a 150-mile radius of Reno, including many high-altitude locations and rugged mountain rescue locations. With a cruising speed of 170 miles per hour, Care Flight can get critical care levels of services to critically ill and injured patients at accident scenes and rural health care centers in minutes.

Care Flight Background

• Care Flight is the longest serving emergency medical helicopter transport program in northern Nevada and northeastern California, now in it’s third decade of service.
• Care Flight is a private, not-for-profit emergency medical services system transport company, which receives no tax subsidy or hospital support. Care Flight is completely self-sustaining through patient fees.
• REMSA and Care Flight are the first emergency medical services system in the nation to have simultaneously received full accreditation for three separate transport services: air critical care, ground critical care and ground advanced life support from the international Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS).
• Care Flight covers locations from rural towns to the rugged mountain areas within a 150-mile radius of Reno, Gardnerville, and Truckee including parts of northern Nevada and northeastern California.
• Care Flight’s number one goal is to provide safe, expedient care to patients.
• Care Flight has a very detailed preventative maintenance schedule with all aircraft.
• Care Flight follows stringent, high quality standards and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulatory guidelines seven days a week, 24 hours a day. In addition, Care Flight maintains rigorous internal standards that exceed the FAA guidelines.
• Care Flight pilot requirements include: Over 2,500 hours of flight time with extensive experience flying in the night and in the mountains.

Aircraft

• Care Flight has a fleet of three Eurocopter A-Star B-3 helicopters.
• All Care Flight aircraft are equipped with a highly advanced Outerlink Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. The Outerlink technology sends out a signal every 60 seconds with the exact, real-time GPS coordinates of the aircraft’s location.
• The GPS coordinates are automatically plotted on a digital map allowing dispatchers to track the exact location of all aircraft at all times.
• The aircraft are able to carry more weight and travel further on a single tank of fuel.

450 Edison Way Reno, Nevada 89502 (775)858-5700 Fax (775)858-5720