An aerial shot of the mega-site. Courtesy of Ohio Dept. of Development.
An Ohio-based medical helicopter company will be opening a base in Fayette County.
MedFlight, a not-for-profit air and ground critical care transportation company based in Columbus, has leased land from the county at the “mega-site” along Interstate 71 and 435.
“MedFlight will be bringing a helicopter and ALS (advanced life support) truck with likely 28 jobs,” said Fayette County Commissioner Tony Anderson. “Those positions will be positions at a property at the mega-site that the county just purchased with the remaining jobs-ready grant funds. They will be using it for headquarters and receiving and sending flights in and out.”
The Fayette County Mega-Site, located in Jefferson and Jasper Townships, was selected as a first funding round awardee from the Ohio Department of Development in 2006 during a “jobs-ready” initiative to create jobs. The grant was in the amount of $4,352,468.
The site is located at Interstate 71 and U.S. Route 35, approximately 43 minutes southwest of Columbus. The Mega-Site is within 60 miles of several metropolitan areas. The site also possesses a significant rail service advantage with its access to both Norfolk-Southern and CSX Transportation rail lines via the Indiana and Ohio Central Railway.
Prior to the Job Ready Site grant, challenges at the site were its lack of available infrastructure and utilities. The Job Ready Site grant allowed Fayette County to make significant improvements to the Mega-Site and its 1,500-acre Job Ready Site. The site is controlled, zoned, and under purchase options until 2019. Improvements were made to extend sanitary sewer, water, natural gas, and electric lines to and across site. Rail spur construction into the Job Ready Site is feasible through the adjacent Central Ohio Logistics Center. The improvements opened more than 1,500 acres of flat farmland to large manufacturing development and ensure end-users that Fayette County can accommodate a rapid start-up timeline.
MedFlight completes nearly 7,000 critical care transports by helicopter and Mobile Intensive Care unit each year, according to a representative, and will be leasing the land for 20 years at a rate of $1.
MedFlight helicopter. Courtesy of MedFlight
“A very minimal amount of money that would allow them to be there for 20 years. It is going to be a tremendous safety asset for the traveling public on 71 and a tremendous asset to Jasper and Jefferson Townships,” Anderson said. “We’re just happy that they’re coming. They have worked with Fayette County Memorial Hospital and we greatly appreciate the position the hospital was in when encouraging MedFlight in getting this accomplished. I greatly applaud them for having those conversations.”
MedFlight’s regional network includes helicopter bases in eight different counties (Franklin, Union, Jackson, Coshocton, Crawford, Morgan, Tuscarawas, and Scioto counties), MICU bases in 2 counties (Franklin, and Summit county).
In the first 15 years, the company successfully based six full-time medical helicopter aircraft at six ancillary locations in Ohio . These aircraft and their crews successfully completed over 4,000 patient transports throughout Ohio and neighboring states in 2005 alone.
Beginning in 1997, the company added Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICU) at different locations in Ohio, which are utilized for inter-hospital transport.
The Fayette County base is expected to be operational by the end of this year and will be known as “MedFlight 9.”