...Title:
Proclamation thanking LifeFlight of West Penn Allegheny Health System for its 35 years of dedicated service.
...Body:
WHEREAS, for 35 years, Allegheny General Hospital's LifeFlight program, the oldest hospital-based service in the Northeast and among the first cadre of such services in the U.S., has provided emergency helicopter transportation for critically ill and injured patients; and
WHEREAS, since its inception in 1978, LifeFlight has made more than 70,000 flights, 30 to 40 percent of them in response to traumatic injuries; and
WHEREAS, LifeFlight operates five helicopters out of five bases positioned strategically across Western Pennsylvania to reduce flight times to accident scenes or outlying hospitals; and
WHEREAS, the LifeFlight team, composed of 20 pilots, 43 nurses and one chief flight nurse, seven dispatchers and eight mechanics, transports patients within a 130-mile radius that includes a population of 4 million people in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland; and
WHEREAS, LifeFlight is unique in that it puts two registered nurses on each helicopter, whereas a nurse-paramedic pairing is more common, and in order to become a flight nurse, a minimum of five years of critical care and pre-hospital experience is required;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that Allegheny County Council does hereby recognize and thank LifeFlight of the Allegheny Health Network for its 35 years of dedicated service. Your diligence and professionalism have saved countless lives, and we owe you a debt of gratitude for your services.