Life Flight Helicopter Grand Landing

The Grand Landing to celebrate the arrival of Intermountain Healthcare’s new Life Flight helicopter will be held at 8 a.m. on Thursday, July 21. The new craft will land on the helipad on the north side of the Dixie Regional Medical Center River Road Campus near the emergency room entrance.

The public is invited to see the Life Flight helicopter up close, meet the flight crew, take photos, and enjoy a brief ceremony and light breakfast refreshments.

The helicopter that initiated this new service in southern Utah last January was on loan from Salt Lake City. This new helicopter now takes its place as the rotar-wing air ambulance for a 150-mile radius from St. George. Community donations raised over the past three years helped fund $2.3 million of the more than $7 million cost of the helicopter. Julie Gerth, nurse manager of Intermountain Life Flight services for the southwest region said, “We could not be more grateful for the wonderful support we feel for Life Flight and want to thank everyone who had a role in making this new service possible.”

Since Intermountain Life Flight helicopter service began in southern Utah last January, crews have completed more than one hundred missions. Young patient, Jared Garbet, will share his story as a part of the brief Grand Landing ceremony.

Sometimes referred to as an “airborne intensive-care unit,” Life Flight – utilizing both airplanes and helicopters – is well-equipped to deal with almost any emergency, from accidents to heart attacks, premature labor to remote-terrain rescues. St. George has been home to a Life Flight airplane since 1988. “Life Flight’s most important asset,” Gerth reminded, “is our highly skilled crew. Equipment is wonderful, but the people using it make the real difference.”