Air ambulance offers annual membership

Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Chanel Choitz of McCook, Nebraska, explains the LifeTeam Critical Care Transport Membership Program to Red Willow County Commissioners Monday morning. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- For an annual fee, LifeTeam Critical Care Transport offers a membership program that pays for the cost of an emergency air flight or the portion of the cost of a flight not covered by insurance.

Chanel Choitz of McCook, Nebraska, who directs LifeTeam's marketing and membership development, told Red Willow County commissioners Monday morning that the membership program is offered to individuals ($50 per year), couples ($55) and households ($60); and to businesses and governmental entities which can decide to offer the opportunity to its employees to purchase memberships, or to pay for membership as part of the employees' benefit package, either option costs $35 per employee/household.

Choitz said the cost of an emergency flight can be upwards of $20,000 to $30,000. Distance from larger hospital facilities is a fact of life in rural Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas. "It's a real part of living out here," she said. "If that time comes, membership can make a very significant difference," Choitz said.

LifeTeam crews are based in McCook and fly a fixed-wing airplane from McCook's airport.

Chanel is in charge of marketing and membership development for LifeTeam; her husband is a pilot.

Commissioners will research the county's insurance plan and readdress the subject at 9:15 a.m. Dec. 16.

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  • A membership may reduce a large balance to a bill, but most memberships only cover transport by the same provider. A new program called Life Shield Alliance covers multiple states and airmedical programs.

    -- Posted by jsher on Wed, Nov 27, 2013, at 11:26 AM
  • Regardless of the membership, McCook is truly blessed to have LIFETEAM located here. This aircraft is staffed with nurses and paramedics that are specially trained in critical care. They provide a life saving service to McCook and the surrounding area.

    To put this in perspective, when someone is seriously injured in an automobile crash, there is a critical time period that starts ticking as soon as the injury is incurred. This is referred to as the "Golden Hour." This is the amount of time that we have from the onset of injury to get the patient into surgery at a trauma center. Our nearest trauma center is located at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. This trauma center is nearly two hours away by ground ambulance, way beyond the Golden Hour.

    We have an extraordinary staff of trauma trained nurses, doctors, and surgeons in McCook that provide top notch care. But when the patient requires special care such as a serious trauma patient, stroke patient, or a patient experiencing a heart attack, time is of the essence.

    Having LIFETEAM in McCook has been directly responsible for saving lives in southwest Nebraska. Thank you LIFETEAM for calling McCook home.

    I've experienced their compassionate care and dedication on a professional and personal basis. They are a class act.

    -- Posted by 82er on Wed, Nov 27, 2013, at 10:00 PM
  • I am gals McCook has such good emergency response teams from the city, rural and lifeflight

    -- Posted by dennis on Fri, Nov 29, 2013, at 10:05 AM
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