Air ambulance company closes bases

Air ambulance provider Air Methods Corporation has closed its Ontario and La Grande bases, according to a company spokeswoman.
Air Methods, one of the nation’s largest air ambulance fleets, began operating in Ontario in October 2013, providing direct competition for Life Flight Network, which was the area’s sole air ambulance provider and which previously contracted with Air Methods for helicopters, pilots and mechanics.

Representatives of both companies met with the Malheur County Court last summer, where Air Methods officials explained they were seeking to be put on a rotation for calls coming into the Malheur County dispatch center requiring air medical transport.

“Our goal was to provide additional resources and services to these areas ensuring a consistent availability of aircraft, along with increased county revenue through jobs and taxes,” said Air Methods spokeswoman Tracey Budz. “Having been a longtime provider of air medical transport helicopters in these areas, we had hoped that we would be able to meld into a rotational system and work together with local hospitals and EMS, but that didn’t happen.”

According to Tim Rawlings, manager of Ontario’s Life Flight Network, both bases closed late last week after only about three months operating.

“Certain counties did a rotation and certain counties chose to continue to use us on a first-call basis just because they were happy with the customer service that we’ve provided. I can only speculate that they weren’t receiving enough calls to maintain their business, but that is pure speculation,” Rawlings said. “We have had our helicopter located there in Ontario for a little over seven years and we’ve just reaffirmed our commitment that we’re always going to be there. We feel like we meet the customers’ needs for that area and there was no room for anyone else. We’ve kept our customers happy and there was no need to look anywhere else.”

Life Flight Network’s Ontario base has about 370 medical transport flights per year, which averages nearly 31 a month, according to Erick Borland, Life Flight Network marketing director. According to Rawlings, many air ambulance companies operate without competition with more flights than that.

In all, 24 employees will be affected by the closures, said Budz.

“Air Methods does not consider base closures to be a trivial matter. This decision was solely as a business decision,” she said. “We’re making every effort to work closely with the affected 24 employees to help them transfer or relocate to other Air Methods bases where there are open positions currently posted.”