MAHONING COUNTY Stat MedEvac to set up local outpost

The company will renovate a building at the airfield into living quarters for a full-time crew, similar to a fire station.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Emergency medical help on the fly will soon be faster for Mahoning Valley residents from one of the companies that serve the area.
Stat MedEvac, which provides air medical transport services for patients with critical illness or injuries, will have a local outpost beginning in mid-January.
Stat MedEvac has headquarters near Pittsburgh, but keeps helicopters in outlying areas to ensure quicker response times to those areas, said John Chamberlain, outreach manager. Its closest outpost is in Greenville, Pa.
The company services all areas within a 30-minute response time from its base, Chamberlain said.
Beginning Jan. 13, the company will keep a helicopter and round-the-clock crew at Youngstown Elser Metropolitan Airport on Sharrott Road in Beaver Township.
"We've worked on this for over a year," said Mike Stanko, president of Gemco Aviation Services, which operates the airport. "It's really going to be good for the community."
Stanko said having a helicopter here will reduce response times from about a half-hour to about six minutes for much of Mahoning County. Responses will also be faster for areas in Columbiana County.
Agreement signed
Stat MedEvac signed a three-year agreement to set up shop at the airport, which will be followed by an optional 10-year extension, Stanko said.
Chamberlain said Stat MedEvac will renovate a building at their airfield into living quarters for its full-time crew.
"That will be their station, just like a fire station," he said.
Besides the helicopter, four pilots, four nurses and four paramedics will be assigned to the outpost. One of each position will be available at all times, ready to respond to calls, Chamberlain said.
He said about 70 percent of calls are for patients to be transported from one hospital to another, with the rest being patient transports from accident scenes.
Most patients will be taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, which is a regional trauma center and has cooperated with Stat MedEvac in the post, Chamberlain said.
He said the company has wanted an outpost in the Mahoning Valley for the past couple of years. When Stanko approached them about locating at Elser, talks began in earnest, he said.
Stanko said he used to hear Stat's pilots talking on the radio and often wondered what it would take to have them locate a helicopter here.
"One day I just got on the radio and asked one of the pilots," he said. The pilot, in turn, put him in touch with company executives.
Chamberlain said an open house will be sometime in the spring, after the renovations are finished. Until then, the crew will be housed in a trailer.
bjackson@vindy.com