Air ambulance services in Lebanon County to be grounded in mid-October

Air Methods officials have announced that they will ground their WellFlight critical care air ambulance services in Lebanon County, effective Oct. 15. 

This announcement comes just 15 months after the Colorado-based company entered into a three-year lease with Lebanon County government to rent office space and a helipad at the county’s 911 Emergency Center in North Cornwall Township.

The rental agreement is $36,000 annually, according to Bob Dowd, director of the Lebanon County Department of Emergency Services (DES).

“I don’t have any real insight other than they have notified us that they’re canceling their lease, that the program is going to close down,” Dowd said Tuesday. “They haven’t officially notified me yet. They’re supposed to send that notice in writing. I just talked to the area manager yesterday. He was the one who told me that.”

Air Methods spokesperson Lindsey Emmons wrote via email in the company’s official corporate response that the closing announcement follows an analysis of a service they had hoped would have a lasting presence in the region.

WellFlight has a relationship with WellSpan Health Systems and the helicopter at the Lebanon DES building is branded in several locations with the WellSpan logo.

“For more than a year, it has been our privilege to provide lifesaving emergency care to the Lebanon area and surrounding communities through our WellFlight 4-90 air medical base,” Emmons wrote. “While we had hoped to maintain a lasting presence in the region, a comprehensive and thoughtful analysis led us to the difficult decision to permanently close this location on Oct. 15, 2025, as it is no longer sustainable in the long term. Until that date, our team remains fully committed to delivering the highest level of care to the community we serve.” 

Dowd was told and a letter provided by management to employees informed them of the closing. Dowd noted that several Air Methods staff members were typically on duty at the county’s 911 Center.  

“At any given time, they had a full team there, which was a pilot, critical care nurse, and a paramedic. So at any given time, there were at least three people there,” he said.

Dowd said news that the service is ending after 15 months is disappointing. He said the county has a 90-day written notification lease termination policy and a monthly rental payment plan with Air Methods.

“It’s a huge loss. I mean, I’m assuming it is just a numbers game and the volume wasn’t there to make it sustainable for them, so that’s what happened,” Dowd said. “I don’t know that for sure, that’s just speculation on my part.”

An Air Methods employee reached out to LebTown in writing to say the Lebanon-based staff was advised of the closing at an “emergency meeting this morning (Monday) out of the blue. Air Methods offered the crew preferential offers at any other location.” However, the company does not have “any openings in approximately 150 miles or an $8500 relocation assistance package,” the employee wrote.  

Employees were provided a letter signed by Steve Konold, vice president of field operations for Air Methods, announcing the decision and detailing next steps for those individuals.

The employee letter offers employment opportunities to current staff and informs them they “will have 14 days from October 16 to secure a transfer” and that employees who are “unable to secure a transfer at the end of this timeframe” will no longer have employment with Air Methods.

LebTown asked Emmons what will happen to local service if employees stationed at the DES facility find other jobs prior to the closing date. That question was not answered.

Dowd said he believes the company will rotate in staff to cover through mid-October if current employees get new jobs prior to the closing date. 

Concerning the helipad space Lebanon County has, Dowd said it is too early to know if the coming void will be filled by another provider.

“It’s certainly disappointing to see that resource leave the county. It was absolutely an advantage to have them that close, with speed and simple proximity,” he said. “I can’t sit here and say that there isn’t a resource available because there still is, and if somebody else came to us and wanted to have a conversation we would absolutely entertain it. Our job is to do the best thing for Lebanon County citizens.”

Several factors make it unlikely that Lebanon County officials will seek to operate their own critical care flight services once this one closes in the fall.

“As much as I would like to say, ‘Sure, I’ll pitch it to the commissioners,’ I just don’t think that that’s where we should be,” Dowd said. “It’s too expensive. It’s too specialized, very driven by collecting for services, revenue from insurance billing and billing for services. I just don’t see a way that that would translate into something that we would try and fill that void ourselves.”

Dowd added that chances are slim another critical care emergency service provider will locate in Lebanon County.

“They came to us originally. We didn’t go out and seek them. I don’t know who we would go to at this point,” he said. “Even before they came we had kind of passed the idea by Life Lion. They weren’t interested, so I don’t really know who else we still have.”

Dowd noted that Life Lion has helipads in Hershey and Lancaster, and WellSpan has a critical care helipad in Gettysburg. He estimated that between 20 and 30 minutes will be added to local response times once the current service ends in Lebanon County.

The helicopter stationed in Lebanon County was used to transport critical care patients to more specialized facilities and to respond to 911 calls. 

“For scene responses, don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly the flight time is shorter because they’re here,” Dowd said. “However, the real time-saver is the fact that the ambulance was able to just come right to the base and run it. It happened without meeting to set up a landing zone, without needing to go through the process of taking off, landing and flying. They can get to that critical care resource faster. And we will be losing that.”

WellSpan spokesperson Ryan Coyle wrote in a prepared statement sent via email to LebTown that service for Lebanon County will be provided by the hospital system’s helicopter based in Gettysburg, Adams County.

“As always, WellSpan is committed to providing exceptional health care to our patients, including serving our communities with emergency transport services. Should an air ambulance be requested for time sensitive transports in the Lebanon area, other regional units will be dispatched, including the WellFlight air ambulance that will continue to be based in Gettysburg,” Coyle wrote. “WellSpan EMS will also continue to provide ground transport services as needed. For specific details on the shift in air ambulance operations, I would refer you to Air Methods.”

Neither Coyle nor Emmons answered how many employees housed at the county’s DES building this decision will impact. Dowd said he did not know how many individuals were employed full-time there because there are permanent employees and temps who float from one location to another.

Emmons also wrote the company is “deeply grateful to our community partners and local agencies for their unwavering support throughout our time in the area. The relationships we built – with first responders, hospitals, and civic leaders – are vital to our shared mission of delivering critical care when it matters most.”

Emmons did not answer questions asking if the service was moving back to Lancaster, how many calls were made locally between April 2024 and April 2025, and whether their Gettysburg-based helicopter would service Lebanon County.

When Air Methods first announced their move here from Lancaster County, the company told LebTown that the helipad space was being used to extend WellFlight, a joint venture the company has with regional hospital system WellSpan.

Emmons said in January 2023 that a base in East Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, would move to the Lebanon County 911 Center in early 2024. According to LNP coverage, the WellFlight Lancaster base opened in March 2023.

At the time the Lebanon location was announced, Emmons highlighted an advantage of having it here. 

“Air Methods works with its partners to ensure the most efficient, reliable, and safe service and continually evaluates service needs,” he said at that time. “With the new partnership with Lebanon County, WellFlight is better positioned to meet the needs of our patients and partners.”‘

The Lancaster base followed an original joint venture dating to 2009 between WellSpan West and Air Methods for service to Chambersburg and Waynesboro hospitals. After those hospitals became part of WellSpan Health in 2018, the program was first expanded to Adams County with a Gettysburg base in 2020 and to Lancaster County in 2023.

Since the service flew into Lebanon County, it’s been a win-win scenario, according to Dowd.

“There was no downside. It was good for everybody, so I’m not sure that I understand why this happened,” Dowd said.