Vanderbilt LifeFlight has served as the comprehensive medical transport service of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt since 1984. LifeFlight operates as a community asset and will transport to any appropriate hospital. All FAA Part 135 aviation services provided by Metro Aviation, Inc., which maintains exclusive operational control over all aircraft. Vanderbilt Health provides all medical staffing, patient care and clinical services.
In 2020 Vanderbilt LifeFlight was named the Program of the Year by the Association of Air Medical Services and is the first flight/ground program in Tennessee to receive this honor. Read more about the award here.
Vanderbilt LifeFlight comprises the following services:
Helicopter
Airplane
Ground EMS (BLS, ALS)
Critical Care Ground Transport
Emergency Communications
Event Medicine
LifeFlight has nine helicopters, one airplane, 28 ALS ground ambulances and four large critical care ambulances. One of the nine helicopters serves as a backup. The remaining eight are placed at bases.
There are eight air bases located in Gallatin (Sumner County), Tullahoma (Coffee County), Clarksville (Montgomery County), Murfreesboro (Rutherford County), Mt. Pleasant (Maury County), Paris (Henry County), Cookeville (Putnam County) and Humboldt (Gibson County).
There are five ground ambulance bases in Davidon, Wilson, Montgomery, Coffee and Bedford Counties.
There is an airplane base in Wilson County.
These assets provide rapid access to definitive care for all of Middle Tennessee, parts of West and East Tennessee, Southern Kentucky and Northern Alabama. Staffed by highly trained flight physicians, fight nurse practitioners, flight nurses, critical care/flight paramedics, paramedics, EMT/AEMTs, communicators and pilots, LifeFlight provides the highest level of care during transport. View our coverage area by helicopter or airplane.
LifeFlight medical crews perform medical procedures in the aircraft, including:
- Rapid sequence induction with oral intubation
- Needle and surgical cricothyrotomy
- Needle chest decompression
- Chest tube placement, pericardiocentesis
- Blood transfusion with packed red blood cells carried onboard
- Transportation of patients requiring intra-aortic balloon pump assistance
- Specialized pediatric, neonatal, and maternal cases
- Hamilton T1 Ventilators capable of mechanical ventilation, CPAP, and BiPAP
Emergency Department attending physicians at Vanderbilt University Hospital provide medical control. Specialty physicians from areas such as toxicology, obstetrics, neonatology, neurosurgery and cardiology can be reached during transport.
Vanderbilt Health provides all medical staffing, patient care and clinical services. All FAA Part 135 aviation services provided by Metro Aviation, Inc., which maintains exclusive operational control over all aircraft.