MetroHealth to Base a Life Flight Helicopter at Lake Health TriPoint Medical Center

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The MetroHealth System will base a Life Flight helicopter at Lake Health TriPoint Medical Center in Concord during the day to help reduce response time in Lake and Geauga counties, according to a news release. Operations are expected to start today.

“Operating a Life Flight helicopter from Lake County will allow us to more quickly provide life-saving care and transport to more people,” MetroHealth President and CEO Dr. Akram Boutros said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the Lake Health System to help make our community healthier.”

The day base at TriPoint “will help reduce travel time when transporting trauma patients to the appropriate health care facility and allow a Life Flight helicopter to be closer to where more and more trauma patients are originating from,” according to the news release.

MetroHealth will park its Life Flight aircraft at the TriPoint campus for up to 12 hours per day and will depend on weather conditions. Each daily crew will include two pilots, a nurse and a physician.

"Lake Health is proud to have worked with our emergency responders and partner with MetroHealth to help strengthen emergency response capabilities in our community with the placement of a Life Flight helicopter at TriPoint Medical Center,” Lake Health President and CEO Cynthia Moore-Hardy said in a prepared statement. “This will be an asset to our community in Lake County and the surrounding region.”

MetroHealth also operates Life Flight helicopters out of Lorain County Regional Airport, Portage County Regional Airport and Wooster Wayne County Airport.

Cleveland Metro Life Flight, which operates emergency air medical services around-the-clock in Northeast Ohio, currently transports about three to six patients per day, about 2,800 patients a year, according to the release. Each helicopter can carry up to two patients per flight.

Cleveland Metro Life Flight was the first air medical program in Northeast Ohio and launched in 1982 as a way to transport critically injured patients to the closest and most appropriate trauma-level care facility, according to the release.

Hospitals are categorized into three levels of trauma centers in Ohio. MetroHealth is a Level One Trauma Center, which handles the most severe trauma cases.

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