CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It’s been 30 years since HealthNet Aeromedical Services began operating in West Virginia.
The not-for-profit critical care transport system, in partnership with the Charleston Area Medical Center, Cabell-Huntington Hospital and West Virginia University Medicine, was formed in 1986.
“There are people that are alive today because 30 years ago these hospital administrators had the foresight to have this service available,” said Clinton Burley, president and CEO of HealthNet. “It makes a huge difference in Appalachia.”
An anniversary celebration was held Monday on Charleston’s landing pad at CAMC Women and Children’s Hospital where Thomas Reed, a HealthNet flight paramedic, was recognized for his 30 years of service.
“You just can’t separate yourself from it,” Reed said of his time at HealthNet. “I’ve had an opportunity to get additional education and go elsewhere, but it keeps drawing me back.”
Reed, 60, began working out of Charleston’s base where HealthNet operated two air crafts. Fast forward 30 years later and the organization now operates nine helicopters in Ripley, Beckley and Lewisburg, and in Kentucky and Ohio. Reed has served nearly 5,000 patients over the last three decades.
“I could say that my office window is constantly changing. I’m always outside in the environment, so those are all things that appeal to me, but the real thing that feeds my soul is being able to touch somebody in their hour of moment of need and to make a difference in their lives,” he said.
HealthNet has changed since its early beginnings, specifically with technology and equipment advancements, Reed said.
“The things that have changed is better equipment, faster aircraft, better radio communication. All of that can’t be summarized in just a few words, but it is huge,” Reed said.
Burley said those advancements have played a key role in serving West Virginia — an area that is typically a difficult state to get around in due its mountainous terrain.
“The geography does not lend itself to get anywhere quickly,” Burley said. “When you have a medical helicopter that can respond to an accident scene or a small, rural community hospital and quickly stabilize a patient and move that patient into a facility like CAMC or Cabell-Huntington or WVU, that’s where lives are saved.”
HealthNet has safely transported more than 70,000 patients since 1986.