The following is a press release from Memorial Hermann Life Flight
HOUSTON, Texas — Memorial Hermann Life Flight was recognized with the Texas Department of State Health Services’ 2014 EMS Air Medical Service of the Year Award. The award honors a public or private air medical service in Texas that demonstrates the highest standards in providing patient care, and leads the way in innovation and commitment to patient care.
Winners in 13 different categories were announced Tuesday at the annual Texas EMS state conference in Fort Worth. Each category honors a person or organization that exemplifies the best that the Texas EMS and trauma system has to offer. This year marks the third time that Life Flight has achieved this recognition, winning previously in 2001 and 2004.
“We are so grateful and humbled that our esteemed EMS colleagues around the Lone Star State have elected to honor us with this significant award once again,” said Tom Flanagan, chief operating officer of Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, home to the Texas Trauma Institute. “It reinforces and rewards the amazing work our Life Flight teams do every day, providing the highest quality of in-flight care possible while helping to revolutionize the air medical field by constantly introducing new advancements and technologies.”
Memorial Hermann Life Flight is a critical care air medical transport service based in Houston – the city’s only hospital-based air ambulance – that serves the community within a 150-mile radius of the Texas Medical Center with helicopters and worldwide using fixed-wing transport.
Founded in 1976 by James “Red” Duke, M.D., who still is medical director, the service operates around the clock – 24-hours a day, 365 days a year – retrieving critically ill and injured patients in the greater Houston area. Crews perform more than 3,000 missions each year, making the John S. Dunn Helistop one of the busiest helipads in the world. Since its inaugural flight, Life Flight has flown more than 140,000 missions.