Moving McClellan Park Aircraft To Vacaville Location
California Shock Trauma Air Rescue (CALSTAR), a not-for-profit
air ambulance company serving northern and central California
announced two changes today in its base operations. The
organization has suspended operations of its helicopter base
located in Jackson, Amador County (CALSTAR 10). The company will
also relocate its helicopter base operations, formerly known as
CALSTAR 11, from its location at McClellan Park in Sacramento
County to Vacaville in Solano County, and consolidate them with
existing base operations at the Nut Tree Airport, known as CALSTAR
8.
CALSTAR will continue to serve the communities in Amador and
surrounding counties from its bases located in Auburn, Placer
County (CALSTAR 3) and South Lake Tahoe (CALSTAR 6).
“The consolidation of our bases announced today will not
have a major impact on the communities CALSTAR serves, particularly
those who are CALSTAR membership subscribers, as we remain just
minutes away by helicopter,” said CALSTAR CEO Lynn
Malmstrom. He continued, “This move will allow us
to eliminate redundancies and more efficiently serve the patients
who rely on us for safe, rapid transport and exceptional
care.”
Malmstrom cited a number of changes in the demand for air
transports, notably the opening of three new trauma centers, which
will shorten the transport time from accident scenes, as well as
the overall drop in trauma transports. “Kaiser South
Sacramento, NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield, and Kaiser
Vacaville all recently became designated trauma centers. In
addition, San Joaquin General in Stockton announced its intention
to seek trauma center designation by 2013,” said
Malmstrom.
All of the company's specialty services such as transports
between hospitals and other capabilities will be retained by the
combined operation at Vacaville.
Vice president of operations Tad Henderson added that “the
all-weather performance of CALSTAR 11’s helicopter as well as
its capacity to carry an isolette and neo-natal transport teams
from area hospitals will be important to our continued operations
at our Vacaville base.” He went on to emphasize that
these moves will have the positive effect of reducing response
times for transporting critical patients to specialty centers and
expediting delivery of the advanced care that patients and hospital
customers rely on CALSTAR to provide.
CALSTAR employees impacted by the changes are being offered
positions at the other bases, as well as at the company’s
McClellan Park headquarters.
CALSTAR operates a fleet of 18 helicopters at bases in Ukiah,
Vacaville, Concord, Gilroy, Salinas, Santa Maria, Auburn, South
Lake Tahoe and two fixed wing aircraft at McClellan. CALSTAR
employs more than 225 individuals