About LIFESTAR

The East Tennessee Area's Regional Resource for Aeromedical Transport

Representing the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, UT LIFESTAR provides critical care treatment and  transport to over 2000 patients per year. With a helicopter fleet comprised of both Eurocopter EC-135s and Bell 407's, LIFESTAR is able to provide the most rapid  transport to area hospitals. To compliment it's state of the art aircraft fleet, UT LIFESTAR also maintains four twenty-four hour aeromedical bases located strategically throughout the entire East Tennessee Region. Bases in Andersonville, Morristown, Sevierville and Sweetwater allow for more expedient travel times to both our patients and healthcare partners, ultimately increasing a patients' chance of survival.

LIFESTAR crew members are experienced nurses and paramedics who are highly-trained in flight physiology, pharmacology in addition to advanced cardiac, neurological and trauma life support. While in-flight, crews have the ability to administer emergency medications, perform 12-lead electrocardiograms and interpret blood chemistries. Our flight program is also unique in that all aircraft are equipped with emergency release blood which can be administered to a patient if needed in an emergent situation. LIFESTAR's registered nurse and flight paramedic teams represent decades of trauma and emergency medical experience..

Air-Transport
LIFESTAR Transport can be initiated at the request of medical or law enforcement personnel and can initiate from an accident scene or from a referring hospital. Justifications for aeromedical transport can include: specialty services not available at the referring location, prolonged ground transport time and adverse road conditions. LIFESTAR'S team of highly trained team of Paramedics, Nurses and Pilots collaborate to provide the most rapid response to accident scenes or medical facilities. In most cases, the LIFESTAR flight team and aircraft are airborne within minutes of receiving an emergency scene or interfacilty request.

UT LIFESTAR is fully committed to serving the medical needs of the region through patient care and transport in conjunction with emergency medical services, outreach programs and education.

Automatic Acceptance Protocols
LIFESTAR will also assist with the transfer arrangements for patients to the UT Medical Center. Just one call to the LIFESTAR communications center will allow for the initation of patient transfers to include patient transportation, bed placement and  physician acceptance. This one step process allows the outlying medical facility to concentrate more on the patient's care process.

LIFESTAR’s Location
Most recently LIFESTAR opened its base in Morristown. Each base is strategically selected to serve the community. For example, the base in Sevierville meant a faster response time to emergencies in Sevier County. The new base allows emergency staff to respond from Sevier County instead of from Knoxville, which cuts the response time in half and, therefore, increases patient chances of survival. Of the 2,230 calls for LIFESTAR in 2004, 375 were made from Sevier County.