Staff Report
Published Jan. 18, 2011

EagleMed opened a South Carolina division at the Greenville Downtown Airport, or GMU, to offer emergency medical transport to any facility within 900 miles.

"From our new base at GMU, we can respond to emergencies within a 900 mile radius, so from this location we can provide critical care air transport services as far north as Massachusetts, south all the way to the tip of Florida, east to the coast and west to Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana," said David Ellis, program manager of EagleMed South Carolina.

EagleMed’s sister company, Med-Trans, operates medical helicopter services for the Greenville Hospital System, Spartanburg Regional and AnMed Hospital, he said.

“About 50% of our flights so far have been to take patients with serious burns to the regional burn treatment center in Augusta, Ga.," Ellis said.  "EagleMed will also be used to fly patients who have suffered a stroke; or are in need of highly specialized cardiovascular or vascular surgery to Charleston. Special pediatric and neonatal patients will be transported to the Greenville Hospital System or to Charleston, depending on the situation and their location.”

The patient, along with one family member, can then be flown in the pressurized cabin of a medically-equipped King Air 90 aircraft that has a non-stop range of 900 miles and can fly 250 miles per hour. All EagleMed aircraft are equipped with medical and emergency equipment like heart monitors, transport ventilators, three-channel infusion pumps and a medical loading system.

"Air transport helps provide people who live or work in rural areas with the same access to high quality health care facilities that residents of metropolitan areas have," Ellis said.

EagleMed was founded in 1977 and provides air ambulance service to more than 6,000 patients annually. EagleMed offers services in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and now South Carolina.