Newport News, Va - LifeEvac of Virginia is pleased to announce its partnership with Riverside Health System to open a helicopter base, LifeEvac III, to serve Richmond, the Middle Peninsula, and Peninsula regions of Southeast Virginia.

LifeEvac III will be staffed with a pilot, critical care flight nurse, and critical care flight paramedic 24 hours a day year-round.  Responding to hospitals and to scenes of accidents and illnesses, LifeEvac III will bring a new level of service to the area.  The service is expected to start in the early summer 2006 utilizing a BK 117 airframe.  The BK 117 aircraft is capable of flying up to 135 mph and is configured to simultaneously transport two patients at a time. 
 
This will be LifeEvac’s third helicopter to serve Virginia.  LifeEvac I, in partnership with VCU Health System, is based in Dinwiddie County to serve the South Central region of the state. LifeEvac II, in partnership with MediCorp Health System and Mary Washington Hospital, is based in Stafford County to serve Northern Virginia.

LifeEvac III will be based in West Point thus, expand the rapid response area to the communities in the Middle Peninsula, Peninsula and parts of the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

LifeEvac of Virginia is an airborne critical care ambulance system operated by the Air Methods Corporation of Denver, CO.  Air Methods, being the largest air medical services provider in the world, operates over 240 medically configured aircraft within the United States.