New Helicopter Base to be Dedicated in Spring of 2025 at CommonSpirit St. Catherine Hospital - Garden City
GARDEN CITY, KS (December 3, 2024) - Building upon a historic legacy of providing world-class air medical transport services in communities across Colorado, CommonSpirit Health is pleased to announce plans to bring its Flight for Life® program to western Kansas in the spring of 2025 with the opening of a new helicopter base at CommonSpirit St. Catherine Hospital - Garden City.
“For our neighbors across western Kansas, this will mean faster access to critical, life-saving health care 24 hours a day,” said Andrew Gaasch, President of the Mountain Region of CommonSpirit. “As a nonprofit healing ministry, we are excited for this opportunity to increase our impact and take care of our rural communities. From Dodge City to Ulysses and beyond, patients will be able to reach the level of care they need when every minute counts.”
“For more than 50 years, we have set the standard for excellence and safety in air medical transport,” said Kathleen Mayer, Program Director of Flight for Life®. “Our pilots can respond quickly to locations across a wide area, and our flight nurses and paramedics provide excellent medical attention while safely delivering a patient to the care team at the hospital.”
While details, including exact timing, are still being finalized, Flight for Life® will directly serve CommonSpirit’s three hospitals in southwest Kansas. These include CommonSpirit Bob Wilson Memorial Hospital in Ulysses, CommonSpirit St. Catherine Hospital - Dodge City, and CommonSpirit St. Catherine Hospital - Garden City. Additionally, Flight for Life® will provide service for patients who are treated at other, non-CommonSpirit hospitals across the region.
“Kansans already know us as a destination for high-quality care, and with the added service of Flight for Life® in our community, it allows us to grow our incredible team,” Twilla Lee, President of CommonSpirit’s hospitals in Kansas, added. “We have a significant opportunity for those looking to add their skills to a mission-driven, nonprofit organization that cares deeply about our communities.”
CommonSpirit is actively recruiting for several flight crew positions, including:
The services of Flight For Life® may be requested by a physician, hospital, ambulance service, fire department, law enforcement agency, or search and rescue group. As part of its critical care services, it will offer residents of the region unique capabilities like emergency blood transfusions, cardiac life-sustaining technologies, high-risk obstetrical care, and pediatric critical care.
Patients are flown to the appropriate medical facility based on the condition of the patient, the patient's request, and the request of the sending or receiving physicians. The nation’s oldest civilian air medical transport service, Flight For Life® currently operates out of several Colorado communities and has been in continuous service since 1972.
About CommonSpirit Health
Inspired by faith. Driven by innovation. Powered by humankindness. CommonSpirit Health is building a healthier future for all through its integrated health services. As one of the nation’s largest nonprofit Catholic healthcare organizations, CommonSpirit Health delivers more than 20 million patient encounters annually through more than 2,300 clinics, care sites and 137 hospital-based locations, in addition to its home-based services and virtual care offerings. CommonSpirit has more than 155,000 employees, 45,000 nurses and 25,000 physicians and advanced practice providers across 24 states and contributes more than $4 billion annually in charity care, community benefits and unreimbursed government programs. Together with our patients, physicians, partners, and communities, we are creating a more just, equitable, and innovative healthcare delivery system. Learn more at commonspirit.org.
