Photo: (Left to right) Trisha Nielsen, Med-Air flight nurse; Tom Mohr, Audubon Airport Board; Lou Herbers, Audubon Airport Board Chairman; Sara Slater, Audubon Airport Board Secretary; Shannon Odiet, Med-Air Audubon Base Manager and flight paramedic; Chad Heuss, Audubon Airport Board; and Mark Kerkhoff Audubon Airport Board
Keith King of Audubon was one of the first people to get a ride in a new helicopter service in our region, and though it was a ride he didn’t want to take with Midwest Med-Air in their medical helicopter transport, it was a ride that, he says, saved his life.
Midwest Med-Air is currently housing an EC135 single-pilot Airbus at a Henningsen Construction building in Atlantic, but is announcing they are building a permanent home at the airport in Audubon. The Nebraska-based company has 27 ground stations for medical transport, and is now expanding their air bases, with the Audubon location being the third for the company and the first in the state of Iowa. Flight nurse, Trisha Nielsen, has been with Midwest Med-Air since February, and says she has already been up on medical calls in this area about 15 times. Shannon Odiet, base manager at Audubon and a flight paramedic, said the new base in Audubon will consist of a four-bedroom hangar that the flight nurse, paramedic and pilot will live in when on call. The hangar will also be the permanent home to the specially-designed airbus.
Med-Air One has instrument flight rules (IFR) capabilities as an added safety feature and the special skids will allow them to land at the scene of an incident if necessary. Odiet said Audubon was selected by Midwest Med-Air because of its geographically convenient location for the surrounding region that is in need of air medical transport services to Des Moines, Omaha, Iowa City and even Mayo in Rochester, Minn. The people of the area played a factor in that decision as well.
The ground has been leveled and made ready for construction of the hangar, which is expected to be completed and ready for use in July.
