Berg, Sanford AirMed’s director of operations. “In 1986, a helicopter was added and we’ve been evolving ever since.”
U.S. HEMS operators that now belong to Global Medical Response (GMR) started up in the 1980s, too. “Most of our air entities got their start in the mid-to-late 1980s, when vertical flight became an up-and- coming modality for responding to a critical or sick patient within the golden hour,” says Tom Rohlfs, GMR’s vice president of air growth.
Inspiration played a big part in this process. For example Rohlfs’ initial employer, Med-Trans, was born as a back-of-the-napkin concept drawn up by two competing hospitals in Bismarck, North Dakota.