Janesville to get new Med Flight base

JANESVILLE, Wis. (WMTV) – Rock County will soon welcome a new Med Flight base that promises to slash response times for some of the most serious medical cases across the southeastern part of Wisconsin.

“We are excited about this new Med Flight coverage map because in emergency situations it gives us a better chance to save a life when time is of the essence,” UW Health Med Flight medical director Dr. Andrew Cathers explained.

The third Med Flight location will work out of Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville, and service areas south and east of Madison, UW Health indicated in a statement announcing the new base. Elsewhere in the region, Med Flights are housed in Mineral Point and Portage.

UW Health announced a new base, its third one in the region, is coming to Southern Wisconsin... — UW Health announced a new base, its third one in the region, is coming to Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport, in Janesville.(UW Health)

According to UW Health, this regional format allows them to service more quickly areas outside Dane Co., where most of the calls happen, while still making sure they had area’s most populous county covered.

“Most of the need for our services was coming from outside Dane County, so it just made sense to place our teams and vehicles regionally,” Cathers said.

Cathers added that a new pediatric neonatal team, the first outside of Madison, will be started alongside the base.

“By moving the helicopters out of there were getting 20, 30, to 40 minutes closer to the patients and that allows us to get to the patients sooner, start doing interventions and treating them and get them where they need to go faster,” Cathers explained.

A second pediatric and neonatal care team and ambulance will still be stationed at University Hospital, UW Health noted.

UW Health said it looks forward to having a new helicopter in the fleet.

“I think we’re all really excited to head down to a new area to us. We hope it will help us reach our patients faster and give them better care and it will also allow us to interact with and treat patients that haven’t traditionally been in our service areas,” Cathers said.

Med Flight expects to have its new Janesville-based helicopter ready to fly by winter.

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