GRAVETTE — It’s not every day that three EagleMed helicopters land at Gravette’s Ozarks Community Hospital, but three came on Friday for Arkansas emergency medical services inspections and certification.

Helicopters based in Joplin, Mo., Pittsburg, Kan., and Tahlequah, Okla., flew in and out of OCH for their annual inspections. The inspections were not safety inspections of the whirlybirds - those are done by the Federal Aviation Administration - but EMS inspections so that the helicopters and flight teams are certified to provide emergency medical services inside the state of Arkansas.The inspections were done by Cody Andrews of the Arkansas Department of Health’s EMS section.

With three helicopters and crews coming around the noon hour for inspections, EagleMed decided to barbecue some hamburgers and hot dogs for crew members, hospital staff and others who came to view the life-saving choppers. Children and adults got a close-up view of the helicopters and visited with EagleMed staff.

Then, once the inspections were done and crew members had a bite to eat, the helicopters took to the air againto return to their home bases.

According to Patrick Barkley, regional program director for EagleMed, the inspections and certifications allow the air ambulance service to pick up patientsin Arkansas and to transport patients within the state.

“We could already transport patients to Arkansas hospitals from out of state, but this certification would let us assist other medicaltransport services and take a patient from a hospital like Gravette’s to another location in Arkansas, like Little Rock,” Barkley said.

EagleMed is a privately owned and operated critical care transportservice that has been in business since 1981. According to the company’s website, it serves the entire state of Kansas with six Beechcraft King Air fixed wing aircraft and 12 Eurocopter A-Star AS350 rotor wingaircraft. EagleMed has bases in Hays, Chanute, Dodge City, Garden City, Goodland, Pittsburg and Wichita, Kan.; Ardmore, Hugo, Oklahoma City, Stillwater, and Tahlequah, Okla.; and Joplin, Mo.

News, Pages 6 on 06/27/2012