LifeTeam adds helicopter, jobs for new air ambulance base

LifeTeam plans to add a sixth air ambulance helicopter base in Kansas.

The Newton-based company said Tuesday that in early spring it will open a helicopter base at Citizens Medical Center in Colby, in northwest Kansas.

Courtney Bachrodt, LifeTeam’s director of business operations, said the base will comprise a mix of 15 pilots, paramedics and registered nurses. The company has acquired a Bell 407 LongRanger helicopter, which is being outfitted as an air ambulance.

The base will operate around the clock, she said. The company will also have access to a hangar at Colby Municipal Airport to house the helicopter for instances of severe weather.

“Colby was a base that we recognized a need for additional aircraft in that area,” Bachrodt said.

She said there’s a “high probability” LifeTeam will be transporting patients from Colby to hospitals in the Wichita area or to Denver. But “it depends on where the patient’s provider or physician feels they need to go.”

Besides Newton and Colby, LifeTeam has helicopter bases in Hutchinson, Emporia, Dodge City, Garden City and Hastings, Neb. It has fixed-wing bases using Beechcraft King Airs in Liberal, Garden City and McCook, Neb.

It also provides air ambulance aircraft in Denver, Austin and Hawaii in partnership with American Medical Response, a nationwide medical transportation company.

This story was originally published February 28, 2017 at 4:55 PM with the headline "LifeTeam adds helicopter, jobs for new air ambulance base."