Erlanger Health System officials will be joined by Cleveland and Bradley County officials for a LIFE FORCE ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 17, beginning at 11:30 a.m. at the Cleveland Regional Jetport. Earlier this year, Erlanger moved its previously hospital-based LIFE FORCE air ambulance to a new $600,000 hangar at the Cleveland airport.
According to Robbie Tester, administrator of Erlanger’s LIFE FORCE air ambulance service, the move to a new permanent base for LIFE FORCE 1, “allows us to provide faster aeromedical services to Erlanger’s main hospital in downtown Chattanooga for the citizens in Hamilton and Bradley Counties, as well as Meigs, McMinn, Rhea, Sequatchie and Bledsoe Counties.”
“By stationing aircraft in the field to transport patients to Erlanger in Chattanooga, we can arrive on the scene much more quickly and begin administering critical care to the patient,” Mr. Tester explained of the move from the Chattanooga hospital base to Cleveland.
Erlanger President & CEO Kevin M. Spiegel FACHE, who will be officiating at Wednesday’s ceremonies, said, “We are extremely excited to be operating our aircraft out of the Cleveland/Bradley County airport,” noting that Erlanger now has five air ambulances operating throughout the region, both in Tennessee and Georgia. “LIFE FORCE is truly and extension of the Erlanger Health System and being based in this community allows us to have quicker response time to our patients in their time of need,” Mr. Spiegel noted.
LIFE FORCE began operations at Erlanger in December 1988. Last fiscal year, Erlanger’s five air ambulances transported more than 2.143 patients via helicopter to and from Erlanger hospitals. Today, Erlanger dispatches LIFE FORCE helicopters from five locations outside of Hamilton County – Calhoun and Blue Ridge in Georgia, and Sparta, Winchester andCleveland in Tennessee.