Flight Services first began operation at Conemaugh Valley Memorial Hospital as satellite base of  the Life Flight program, Allegheny, General Hospital of Pittsburgh PA, in October 0f 1986.

Our first Flight Team consisted of 9 Registered Nurses, recruited from the Intensive Care Unit, and Department of Emergency Medicine. Rocky Mountain Helicopter Service provided the helicopter, an Aloutte, which was based atop the parking garage helipad. This was our service model, until November of  1988, when Conemaugh decided to operate our own Flight Program, and the Medstar concept was born.

 

 

 

 

 

Memorial MedSTAR, the C.V.M.H. based aeromedical service became operational at 0700, on October 27th, 1989. The new Critical Care Flight Team was comprised of 9 Registered Nurse, and 3 EMT-Paramedics. Additionally, the Regional Intensive Care Nursery at Conemaugh, was added to our mission capabilities, adding RICN Nurses, and Respiratory Therapist to the Team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The BO-105 helicopter was operated by Keystone Helicopters of Pennsylvania.

In December of 1989, we started our “Fly Along Program”, for area RN’s and Paramedics to observe, first hand, the practice of Flight Medicine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conemaugh MedSTAR transitioned from the smaller BO-105 model aircraft, to the larger BK-117 model, most commonly use in EMS.  N911CH, our flagship for many years was highly recognizable in the Greater Johnstown area, and still appears in many of Conemaugh’s marketing campaigns.

June of 1998 brought the addition of a second helicopter, known as MedSTAR 2. This aircraft was based at the Bon Secours holy Family Hospital in Altoona PA, initially operating 12 hours a day. In  April of 2000, MedSTAR 2 became operational 24 hours a day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MedSTAR 1 was relocated to Somerset PA in January of 2001, and in November 2004, MedSTAR 2 was relocated to Miner’s Medical Center, northern Cambria County, Hastings PA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miner’s is a member of the Conemaugh Health System. The basing of aircraft at remote sites, rather than the Conemaugh Hospital, allowed us to respond more quickly to scenes where needed, actually reducing the time to arrival at the Conemaugh Regional Trauma Center, and providing smaller communities with ready access  to aeromedical service.

2008 saw many changes for the MedSTAR Team. Keystone Helicopters was sold to EraMed, who became our new aircraft vendor. During this transition, we operated several different aircraft, but the Flight Team of Registered Nurses and Paramedics from Conemaugh, still provided the highest quality of patient care. Excellence. Every patient….     Every Time.

In January of 2009, the difficult decision was made to suspend service of MedSTAR 2 in Hasting. Medstar 1 still operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from the remote base in Somerset PA.

As a partner with the Conemaugh Health System, Air Methods Corporation now  operates the Medstar program as a Community Based Hybrid service. This is a new venture in service delivery model for both Conemaugh, and Air Methods.

 

Although we have experienced some growing pains through the years, the Medstar TEAM has provided exceptional aeromedical care to the Laurel Highlands region for 20 years!

 

The Flight Team remains committed to the highest standards of patient care, and envisions providing this valuable, life saving service well into the future!