Two years ago, Gov. Jay Nixon held a ceremony in Houston to announce state incentives for Air Evac, which agreed to hire 85 people in Houston. Company spokeswoman Julie Heavrin says employment at that office only reached the present 45. She says the company will be able to keep the incentives because the jobs will remain in Missouri.
Heavrin says the company aims to have all the job shifts done by Nov. 1.
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Edited news release:
WEST PLAINS, Mo. -- Air Evac Lifeteam, a leading provider of air medical transportation to rural communities, on Wednesday announced a major expansion of its facilities that will enhance its ability to deliver air medical transportation services throughout the country, and position it for growth.
The facilities expansion includes opening a new headquarters building in O’Fallon, near St. Louis, shifting some employees to an existing facility in Lewisville, Texas, and centralizing some functions that are geographically dispersed at its largest location in West Plains. Staffing levels will remain the same following the changes, which likely will be fully implemented by November.
“After careful consideration, we have developed a plan to carefully position our people and resources in locations where they will best serve our bases, employees and customers for the long term,” said Air Evac Lifeteam President Seth Myers. “This includes a firm commitment to the City of West Plains that has been our home for the last 27 years, and will continue to be the location for the largest portion of our employee base for a long time to come.
“At the same time, our new headquarters location will provide access to a major airport hub for quick dissemination of parts and supplies to our bases and to the additional people and resources we need to maintain and build upon our continued growth.”
O’Fallon was chosen after an extensive search and analysis of more than 20 other locations throughout the region. The review showed that the community offered an array of benefits to Air Evac such as access to a large pool of local labor, better ability to recruit talent nationally, increased air access to dispersed company operations, and attractive real estate options for both the company and its employees.
The Company’s headquarters will be a new 78,000-square-foot office building that will house 120 corporate and Part 135 operations employees, and allow space for growth.
O’Fallon is about 45 miles west of St. Louis and is ”centrally located to our target markets . . . and proved to be a community that, like West Plains, reflects the culture of Air Evac and lies within our service area so we will still be able to witness the results of our work first-hand on a regular basis,” said Myers.
Air Evac Lifeteam will set up a Communications Center in O’Fallon, but will maintain its Communications Center in West Plains to support company growth and provide a redundant dual-pronged approach to the dispatch of lifesaving medical transport.
Approximately 30 positions in accounting and IT will be shifted to the facility in Lewisville, and the Company’s Patient Accounts division will be consolidated in West Plains, a transition which will be achieved by shifting 45 employees from an office in Houston, Mo., that will be closed.
As part of the transition, all employees in the positions slated to move may keep their jobs and take advantage of relocation assistance the Company is offering to every affected employee.
More information is available on the Air Evac website at www.lifeteam.net.
About Air Evac Lifeteam
Air Evac Lifeteam is a leading provider of air medical transportation to rural communities, providing patients high caliber on-the-scene medical attention during the critical hour following an accident or medical emergency and rapid transport to leading medical centers. The membership-supported air ambulance service operates 107 bases in 15 states. The Company operates the world's largest fleet of more than 120 medically-equipped Bell 206 Long Ranger helicopters.
