WAUSAU, Wis. – After being removed from service at the end of November for repainting and rebranding, Aspirus MedEvac Air 2 has returned to provide lifesaving air transport. The EC-145 air ambulance based at Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee was previously known as Spirit, a familiar presence in the community since 1993.

MedEvac Air 2 joins the Aspirus MedEvac Air 1 medical helicopter based at Howard Young Medical Center, part of Aspirus Health, in Woodruff as part of an emergency and patient medical transportation force that has doubled in size with the Aspirus acquisition of former Ascension Wisconsin facilities.

“We went from 130 employees to 250, basically doubling our workforce,” says Jason Keffeler, Aspirus MedEvac System Director. “The coming together of the two services has allowed us to standardize care practices across the region which really helps us raise the quality of care we provide, especially to rural areas where emergency support might not be as accessible.”

The expanded Aspirus MedEvac now supports 13 ground bases, two air medical heli- copters, and nine, 911 agencies from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Portage in Southern Wisconsin.

With the enlarged regional footprint, Aspirus MedEvac has been able to streamline dis- patch to improve safety, efficient and timely access for inter-hospital and emergency transports. Assets are being effectively leveraged and positioned, instead of duplicating services within the same region as when there were two separate transport providers.

“The hardest part about merging the two teams was doing it during the Omicron COVID surge,” said Keffeler. “When the surge was af- fecting our area, it was creating higher volumes and demands on the crews. But the teamwork, collaboration and communication has been outstanding.”

Aspirus MedEvac is now a team of over 250 emergency service providers, with two air bases, 35 ground ambulance units at 13 bas- es located throughout Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Aspirus Medevac has been accredited by the National Accreditation Alliance of Medical Transport Applications (NAAMTA) since 2015. Aspirus MedEvac is the first hos pital-based program in the NAAMTA Alliance and the first program to meet 100 percent com pliance in the inspection process.

About Aspirus Health

Aspirus Health is a non-profit, communi ty-directed health system based in Wausau, Wisconsin. Its 11,000 employees are focused on improving the health and well-being of peo- ple throughout Wisconsin and Upper Michi gan. Aspirus serves communities through four hospitals in Michigan and 13 hospitals in Wisconsin, 75 clinics, home health and hospice care, pharmacies, critical care and air-medical transport, medical goods, nursing homes and a broad network of physicians. Aspirus has been recognized four consecutive years by IBM Watson Health as a Top 15 Health System in its annual study identifying the top-performing health systems in the country. For more information, visit aspirus.org.