MINOT — Trinity Health Community Ambulance Service and NorthStar Criticair have integrated ground and air ambulance services under one division line, now officially known as Trinity Health First Response.
Community Ambulance had been serving the city since 1981, responding to nearly 11,000 calls yearly. NorthStar Criticair, an air ambulance, has been operating for 30 years in northwest North Dakota and eastern Montana.
According to a new release from Trinity Health, a “notable improvement will be the availability of First Response air ambulance services to transport patients to any facility within the United States.”
First Response services also includes the First Call dispatch center and EMS education center. According to Amy Thomas, director of Transport Services and First Response, the “First Response helicopter can accept missions with 150 miles” and the “fixed-wing aircraft has the capacity to transport patients anywhere across the country,” which saves time and “possibly the lives of those whom we are entrusted to deliver safely and quickly to their destination.”
