Carilion to add helicopter hangar at Westlake

Responding to increased demand, Carilion Clinic is revamping its air medical services and adding a third helicopter to its fleet in April. The new helicopter's home base will be at Westlake, where a helipad was installed a few years ago; Carilion plans to build a hangar facility adjacent to the helipad.

Use of Carilion's existing two LifeGuard helicopters has grown between 10 percent and 20 percent in the past two years, resulting in about five flights a day, said Paul Davenport, the clinic's vice president for emergency services.

That growth has put an increased burden on the helicopters and flight crews, Davenport said.

The addition of a third helicopter is just one aspect of an overhaul of Carilion's air medical program. Carilion recently signed a multi-year contract with Med-Trans Corp., of Dallas, Texas, which will run the program, Davenport said. He declined to share the financial terms of the partnership.

Med-Trans will be responsible for purchasing the new helicopter and for building two new launching pads for the services. A new home base for the helicopters also will be built at Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital in Lexington.