First Flight of Wyoming

Cody Regional Health (CRH) and St. Vincent Healthcare, part of Intermountain Health, have partnered to launch Wyoming's only hospital-owned flight program: First Flight of Wyoming.

This joint venture flight program will serve the needs of the Greater Wyoming Basin Region with high-quality, cost-effective transport services. Cody Regional Health operates the largest EMS network in Northern Wyoming, while St. Vincent Healthcare has operated HELP Flight, an air medical transport program, for over 40 years.

CRH and St Vincent/IMH have modeled First Flight of Wyoming to allow Big Horn Basin and surrounding hospitals to participate in the ownership and oversight of First Flight of Wyoming.

"With the recent closures of EMS services and the high costs of air medical transport, we feel that the establishment of an air medical flight program located in the Big Horn Basin will provide a lower cost and a higher quality of care to patients in Northern Wyoming," said Doug McMillan, Cody Regional Health CEO. "St. Vincent's longstanding HELP Flight program was a pioneer in air medical services and continues to be at the forefront of hospital-based flight services, making them the ideal partner for this joint venture endeavor."

“St. Vincent Healthcare is committed to creating healthier communities and helping to ensure those we serve receive high-quality, lifesaving care close to home. First Flight of Wyoming helps to achieve that by providing much-needed air ambulance services to the communities of northern Wyoming," said Jen Alderfer, President of St. Vincent Healthcare, and the Montana | Wyoming Market for Intermountain Health. "We are thrilled to partner with Cody Regional Health in this endeavor and look forward to bringing these services to the Big Horn Basin.”

“Our goal is to launch First Flight of Wyoming early this summer with a rotor wing aircraft. It’s important to both organizations that we have the right team and equipment in place to make this new venture a success,” stated Keith Ungrund, President of First Flight of Wyoming. “We know this service will save lives and save patients money in the long run.”

The Bell 407 aircraft and crew will be based at the Greybull, Wyoming airport allowing shorter response times to communities in the Big Horn Basin.

For assistance with this story, please contact Cody Regional Health at crh@codyregionalhealth.org.

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About Cody Regional Health

Cody Regional Health (CRH) is a national leading critical care access healthcare system serving Northwest Wyoming. CRH employs and partners with over 100 providers offering a wide variety of compressive services including a walk-in clinic, Orthopedic clinic, wound care clinic, and cardiology center. Adjacent to our hospital is a 94-bed Long-Term Care Center and a 16-bed chemical dependency center. CRH offers an 8-bed hospice care house and a regional cancer center. CRH abides by the Planetree philosophy as a model of health care. The Planetree model strives to enhance patient comfort by personalizing, humanizing, and demystifying the healthcare experience. More information can be found at www.codyregionalhealth.org.

About St. Vincent Healthcare and Intermountain Healthcare

Serving the people of Montana, Wyoming, and the western Dakotas for more than 120 years, St. Vincent Healthcare is located in Billings, Montana. In addition to 12 primary care clinics in and around the Billings area, St. Vincent Healthcare offers dozens of progressive specialty services and a 286-bed hospital. St. Vincent even has a special "hospital within a hospital" just for children, St. Vincent Children's Healthcare. St. Vincent Healthcare has more than 1,700 associates and over 500 physicians and advanced care professionals. St. Vincent Healthcare is part of the Intermountain Healthcare system. Based in Utah with locations in seven states (Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming) and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Healthcare is a nonprofit healthcare system comprised of 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, medical groups with some 3,800 employed physicians and advanced practice providers. To help people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs consistently. To learn more about St. Vincent Healthcare, visit svh.org.