Erlanger Health System is preparing to move its hospital-based Life Force helicopter from its main campus in downtown Chattanooga to the new Cleveland airport next year.
Robbie Tester, administrator of Erlanger’s Life Force, said Monday that Life Force 1, now based atop Erlanger’s 3rd Street hospital in Chattanooga, will move in January to a new $600,000 hangar being built at the Cleveland Regional Jetport.
“A permanent base in Cleveland will allow us to provide faster aeromedical services to Erlanger’s main hospital in downtown Chattanooga for the citizens and visitors in Hamilton County and Bradley County, as well as Meigs, McMinn, Rhea, Sequatchie and Bledsoe Counties,” Tester said.
Med-Trans Corp., the Dallas-based air carrier that took over Erlanger’s Life Force program under a 10-year lease agreement in 2008, broke ground Monday on its new Cleveland facility. Last month, Life Force added a fifth helicopter in Middle Tennessee, based at the Winchester, Tenn., airport.
Heather Wilson returns equipment to Life Force 1 after a call.Erlanger will soon dispatch Life Force helicopters owned by Med-Trans from five locations outside of Hamilton County – Calhoun and Blue Ridge in Georgia and Sparta, Winchester and Cleveland in Tennessee.