A Topeka-based company that uses helicopters to rush accident and heart-attack victims to area hospitals is moving part of its operations to Lawrence.
Later this month, Life Star air ambulance will station one of its two helicopters from about 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day at Lawrence Municipal Airport. The same helicopter will be stationed from about 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. at Forbes Field in Topeka.
The company's second helicopter remains in Junction City, responding to calls from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
"We've ordered some additional equipment," said Greg Hildenbrand, director of Life Star. "When it comes in, we'll make the move. I'm guessing it'll be sometime between Jan. 21 and Feb. 1."
Hildenbrand said the move was prompted by office space at Lawrence Memorial Airport becoming available and Douglas County generating more calls than Shawnee County.
Life Star's territory includes parts or all of 32 counties in northeast Kansas, excluding Johnson and Wyandotte counties.
"We serve about 30 percent of the state," Hildenbrand said.
According to company data, he said, the Lawrence-Topeka and Manhattan-Junction City areas generate the most calls within the territory.
Putting the Lawrence-based helicopter in Topeka in during the evening and early morning hours should ensure the best coverage, he said.
Last year, Hildenbrand said, Life Star's two helicopters logged 660 flights.
"We're hoping to get up to 700 or 800 this year," he said.
Putting a helicopter in Lawrence is not expected to significantly shorten response times in Douglas County.
"The way it is now, once we're in the air, it's only an eight-minute flight from Lawrence to Topeka," Hildenbrand said. "And we're almost always there by the time they're ready for us, so I doubt that we'll improve much on that."
But having a helicopter in Lawrence should trim a few minutes off flights to Franklin and Jefferson counties, he said.
Life Star's helicopters travel at about 150 mph and usually haul a pilot, a registered nurse, a paramedic and up to two patients.
"From Lawrence to any of the Kansas City hospitals KU Med, Overland Park (Regional Medical Center) or St. Luke's is only about 15 minutes," Hildenbrand said.
A typical Lawrence-to-Kansas City flight costs $4,700. About one-third of the company's flights, Hildenbrand said, involve "trauma accidents, gun shots or stabbings;" another one-third involve heart attacks. The remaining one-third, he said, "run the gamut."
Lawrence Municipal Airport officials welcomed news of Life Star's move.
"It'll be good for the airport and good for the community," said Lloyd Hetrick, manager of the airport's fixed-wing operations. "We're glad to have them."
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