CRESTVIEW INDUSTRIAL AIRPORT TO HOST MEDICAL HELICOPTER OPERATIONS FOR THE LOCAL AREA

One more business being moved to the Crestview Airport. In a recent conversation with the Executive Director of the Crestview Chamber of Commerce, who is also a Okaloosa County Commissioner; he noted to stay tuned for some more opportunities coming to the Crestview area. I would like to add, my hat is off to all the forward thinking folks, who believe in sharing our great part of the country to the folks wanting to call this place their home.

Medical helicopter will be replaced later this month by one that will fly out of Crestview
By ANGEL McCURDY
Northwest Florida Daily News 315-4432 amccurdy@nwfdailynews.com  

Officials with Air Methods are expecting to launch their medical helicopter in Okaloosa County later this month after removing GULFlight 1 from operations. A new module station will be set up at Bob Sikes Airport in Crestview. Larry Hall, field operations manager with Air Methods, said a trailer is scheduled to be delivered and set up by Dec. 9 and a tentative start date is Dec. 16 with Air Heart 3. “All of our operations will be shifting to the west,” Hall said. “We’re in the strategic planning stage now.” GULFlight 1, which has operated from Twin Cities Hospital in Niceville since June 2006, made its last emergency runs Wednesday. The helicopter no longer is needed because of a decrease in calls, Hall said. He added that the large number of medical helicopters in the area will help ease the transition. AirHeart 3 will be moved to Bob Sikes from DeFuniak Springs. Hall said response times for Walton County might be affected, so an “auto-watch procedure” will be put in place. That means medical helicopters will respond to certain areas immediately rather than wait to be called. If the air ambulance is not needed, it will turn around. “That method helps buy us time to get to the patient faster,” Hall said. “We are deciding on the areas that will be on the autowatch list.” Hall added that AirHeart 2, which operates out of Marianna, also will be available for calls to Walton County. AirHeart 3 will continue to operate from DeFuniak Springs until Dec. 16. Dino Villani, Okaloosa County’s public safety director, said the transition is expected to be seamless. “We’ve been preparing for this,” Villani said. “While we’re operating out of DeFuniak Springs I don’t expect problems with response time. It will be similar to the times GULFlight has.” Hall said residents should not see a difference in coverage and response times. “It’s all the same basic coverage that we’ve provided for years,” Hall said.