About us

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Partners with Your Community

FLIGHT FOR LIFE (FFL) understands the importance of strong community partnerships, which is why we work closely with our customers to provide safe, high-quality, customer oriented, evidence-based medical transportation.  Positive outcomes for patients are best achieved through teamwork. A partnership with your community’s hospital or pre-hospital team is essential in providing continuity of care during a patient’s experience.

Medical Team

The medical team consists of a Flight Nurse and Flight Paramedic. All FFL medical personnel obtain certifications and advanced training in areas specific to air medical transport. This training improves their assessment skills and enhances their clinical judgment. Flight For Life provides extensive continuing education for all medical crew members.  

Aviation Team

Safety is the number one priority at Flight For Life.  There are a multitude of factors that the pilots take into consideration while determining if a flight can be accepted.  Each aircraft has two dedicated mechanics who are responsible for daily and scheduled maintenance. The mechanics, working as a team with the pilots at each site, guarantee peak aircraft safety and performance.

Barbara A. Hess Memorial Fund

Barbara Hess was one of the Founders and the first Director of Flight For Life. She, along with Joseph Darin, MD, then Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Jim Ryan, President of Milwaukee Regional Medical Center, started Flight For Life in 1984. It was Barb’s vision and dedication that propelled Flight For Life to become the safety-focused and patient-care-focused program that it is today. The Barbara A. Hess Memorial Fund was established by the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center’s Board of Directors in Barb’s honor in 1988. The Fund was established to support external educational opportunities such as professional continuing education (seminars & conferences) and professional certifications for the Flight For Life staff, which include: Professional continuing education (seminars and conferences) and professional certifications.

Access to the Aircraft

Hospital staff, pre-hospital emergency medical services personnel, physicians, law enforcement agencies, fire departments and industrial safety personnel can call the FFL Communications Center to arrange air medical transport for a patient. Local agencies can request Flight For Life when assistance is needed for special operations such as searches. Flight For Life also works closely with local municipalities to ensure that our services are integrated into their mass casualty plans.

Medical Capabilities

FFL is equipped to handle the most critical patients. Our teams undergo extensive training in advanced techniques and procedures to ensure they are able to provide optimal patient care in any setting.  Patients from referring hospitals or pre-hospital scene calls are transferred to receiving facilities that provide the specialty care needed, including the use of blood products, which are carried on every flight.  Direct access is provided to the following intensive care services: trauma, cardiac, STEMI, stroke, neurological injuries (including spinal cord and head trauma), limb replantation, burn, pediatric, neonatal, high-risk obstetrics, surgery, critical care medicine, organ procurement, and HBO (hyperbaric oxygen therapy). In addition, crews can administer or continue the infusion of a variety of drugs including tPA. They are also trained and skilled at performing advanced airway procedures. Flight For Life can transport the most complex cardiac patients, including those on balloon pumps, impella cardiac pumps, ECMO, and those with LVAD or BiVAD devices.

Vision, Mission & Shared Values

CAMTS

Authorized Customers