February 28, 2024 | Air Methods Press Release | Westernville, New York
LifeNet 7-14 announced its official relocation from its sister location in Watertown, NY to Westernville, NY—where life-saving service continues to the Mohawk Valley region and beyond. The LifeNet team partnered with the Town of Western and the Fire Company to break ground on the new location in October 2023. The newly built helicopter pad, hangar, and living quarters for the flight crew are adjacent to the Fire Company.
Without skipping a beat in service, the relocation to Westernville marks LifeNet 7-14’s permanent base location.
“Final operational preparations and move to our new home went very well,” said LifeNet of New York Account Executive Colleen Gleeson. “We are excited to be home, and we look forward to continuing to serve the region and be a critical resource to the community.
”This community resource—operating 24/7/365—has a crew consisting of a pilot, flight paramedic, and flight nurse. Not only has LifeNet 7-14 been serving the area for a year, but most of the crew is from Central New York and the Midstate region, establishing long-standing relationships and partnerships. Additionally, the seasoned crew collectively has more than 100 years of aviation and medical experience among them.
“For many of the crew members, this is home. We grew up here. We know the area, the culture, and the people.” said David Sandbrook, a native and LifeNet 7-14 flight paramedic/clinical base lead. “We come to work every day honored to serve the Mohawk Valley region because we want to ensure that everyone can trust that in an emergency, they’ll have access to the highest level of critical care.”
The entire LifeNet of York program has been serving upstate New York for more than 30 years and has transported over 65,000 patients. The program’s air medical services are often referred to as flying ERs and intensive care units (ICUs) as each clinical crew carries the critical resources needed to provide ICU-level care while in flight, including the ability to carry and administer blood products in flight. The clinical team is extensively trained through Air Methods Ascend, an in-person and online training program that allows clinicians to perform at the top of their licensure, providing the highest level of prehospital care, and enabling clinicians to work in lockstep across the region no matter the community they are serving. Ascend is also available to medical personnel across the nation.
All LifeNet of New York programs offers ‘Air Medical Utilization and Landing Zone Safety Courses’ for local first response agencies. In addition, the crew enjoys the opportunity to attend local events to bring the aircraft when available for community members to see services upfront. Anyone can request these offerings, visit the LifeNet of New York website to submit a request.
In the coming months, LifeNet 7-14 will be hosting a ceremonious event for the community, marking the opening of the new location. In the meantime, the dedicated critical-care crew stands ready to serve when called upon by contacting emergency dispatch at 1-800-435-3822.
Photo from LifeNet 7-14 Facebook Feed.
