Soaring to New Heights With CareFlight Partnership

Gunnison Valley Health has announced a new joint venture with CareFlight to provide lifesaving emergency helicopter services to the Gunnison Valley community.

Gunnison Valley Health’s CEO Rob Santilli said the main goal of the partnership with CareFlight is to provide our patients in emergency situations the highest quality critical care in the safest manner possible.

“CareFlight is a high quality and reputable air ambulance service staffed with highly trained medical professionals who bring a level of expertise in critical care you would expect in any hospital,” said Mr. Santilli.

Gunnison Valley Health’s Emergency Department Director Elizabeth Rademacher said the service is essential for those patients who need to be quickly transported to specialized hospitals for emergency care.

“On average, 80 patients each year utilize air ambulance services in the Valley,” said Ms. Rademacher. “To quickly transport our patients in lifesaving situations to neighboring hospitals is a tremendous advantage to our community.”

CareFlight is an air medical transport service operated by St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction. It is the primary emergency air transport service for Gunnison County, providing a 24 hours a day service with hospital-trained personnel who have a minimum of four years critical care experience and follow national standards of accreditation. As a non-profit organization, CareFlight does not charge patients more than what their insurance will cover.

“Here is the great news,” said Mr. Santilli. “As the cost for an air ambulance can often be very expensive, we have worked out an arrangement for our patients. Patients who are insured will not receive extra billing for the service and those who are uninsured, we work with them so they will not be left with a large financial burden. This enables us to continue to provide the highest quality critical care at the least cost possible to our patients,” he said.

Rob Santilli further added that Gunnison Valley Health’s participation in the joint venture will deliver a positive return to our community.

“Partnering with CareFlight not only strengthens our focus on providing quality patient care, it ensures there will be a cost effective and sustainable air ambulance service available to our community in the future.”

For more information, please contact:

Kylie Murgatroyd, Director of Marketing on (970) 642-8417