Whenever the term air evac is used the first thing that usually comes to most people's minds is the helicopters flying into the tent hospitals on the television show MASH. While this popular television show may have brought the concept into the public's eye, air evac has been around a lot longer and still performs an equally important task. Whenever there is a traumatic accident and the difference between life and death is the speed with which the patient arrives at the hospital air transportation is called in. By now we are all familiar with the air evac helicopters that come swooping down at the scene of a bad accident and take the most seriously injured patient to the waiting trauma room. While in flight the paramedics are continuing the fight to keep them alive and stable until they can reach the operating room and be skillfully repaired.

The paramedics are some of the most highly trained emergency staff in the world and have spent many extra hours of training time becoming flight trauma medicine certified. Accidents are not the only reason that air evac is called in; it can also be used in the event of a major medical problem such as heart attack or stroke when the nearest facility is too far away. In cases like these time is of the essence and traveling by road can take far too long and risk losing the patient, To be able to place them in the air ambulance and get them to a cardiac unit can mean the difference between life and death at worst or make their chances of full recovery far better. However this is only one side or the air evac world and is the one that most people are familiar with. There is another less glamorous side to the air ambulance service that while not as well known is just as important if not more so than the short helicopter rides. The air ambulance service also makes good use of fixed wing aircraft to transport thousands of patients to trauma units and specialized treatment facilities across the country and around the world every day of the year.

Once the air evac helicopter and its crew have done their job and made sure that the patient has arrived safely at the nearest trauma center, their treatment may have just begun. Often a trauma unit can only stabilize a patient and then must move them to a facility that specializes in the care a particular patient might need such as a burn unit or a cardiac care hospital. There simply are not that many of these specialty facilities available and getting the patient there in a timely fashion can be very important, requiring the use of fixed wing aircraft that can fly long distances at high speeds. This type of air evac requires a team of dedicated professionals such as those of VIP Air Ambulance. With access to over 2,000 aircraft along with crews that are trained to handle any medical emergency, they can handle any medical emergency flight to anywhere in the world.