Mission, Vision, Values
LifeFlight’s vision for Maine is a place in which every person, in every community, has access to critical care and medical transport when they need it.
Our mission is to transform the critical care transport medicine system into an integrated, high quality, patient-centered system worthy of the public’s trust.
LifeFlight is a nonprofit critical care transport system serving the entire state of Maine supporting every hospital, EMS, and public safety agency. A private non-profit with a huge and dynamic public mission LifeFlight is comprised of two distinct charitable organizations:
LifeFlight of Maine, headquartered in Bangor, the operating leg is an independent business unit in a joint venture of Northern Light Health and Central Maine Healthcare. LifeFlight is overseen by a Steering Committee comprises of senior leaders in the two healthcare systems and members of the LifeFlight Foundation Board.
The LifeFlight Foundation, headquartered in Camden, the charitable leg supports LifeFlight’s aircraft, medical technology, outreach education, and aviation infrastructure. The Foundation is overseen by a Board of medical,
SevenBar Aviation of Dallas, TX provides FAA Part 135 aviation management for LifeFlight’s operations.
Maine is the most rural state by population density in the United States. LifeFlight of Maine’s aircraft, three helicopters, airplane, and specialized ground ambulances bring lifesaving equipment and critical care nurses and paramedics to emergency scenes and small, rural hospitals throughout the state. Once stabilized, patients are then transported to one of Maine’s three trauma centers, to further specialized care ranging from the major centers in Boston extending in a ring to Cleveland Clinic to Duke Medical Center, or the nearest appropriately equipped hospital that is capable of caring for the patient’s individual needs.
LifeFlight’s aircraft, based in Bangor at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, the Bangor International Airport, Lewiston at Central Maine Medical Center, and Sanford at Seacoast Regional Airport, cover the entire state of Maine and offshore islands. LifeFlight complements and supports the work of local physicians, mid-level providers, nurses and local emergency medical services (EMS) in caring for the critically ill and injured. The helicopters and airplane are staffed by teams of highly qualified critical care transport nurses and paramedics.
There are typically three ways to request LifeFlight’s services:
- Emergency and specialty physicians call for LifeFlight of Maine for patients needing ongoing resuscitation, continuity of hospital specialty care, state-of-the-art medical equipment and rapid transport from a community hospital to a major medical center.
- Local EMS personnel, guided by supervising emergency physicians and Maine EMS protocols, call for a LifeFlight team to come directly to a scene when the patient needs special care and rapid transport to a major center for trauma, stroke, or cardiac care.
- Public safety or on site bystanders call LifeFlight to transport a critically ill or injured patient from a remote location, such as an island or peninsula, to a major medical center.
LifeFlight of Maine uses strict medical utilization criteria to make sure every flight is medically necessary. Use of
LifeFlight is a physician-prescribed critical medical service, organized and managed in the same way hospital emergency departments and physicians provide care to all of the people of Maine.
When care is provided, the patient and the patient’s insurance company are billed for the service. Just as Maine’s hospitals provide service to all patients in need of care, LifeFlight services are also provided regardless of a patient’s financial resources or ability to pay.
LifeFlight is fully accredited by the Commission for the Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems. Section: Our Services / Education & Training
Core Values
Our patients are at the center of all that we do, and they deserve uncompromising standards:
- Uncompromising standards for safety: We are empowered to make decisions about our safety and our patient’s safety.
- Uncompromising standards for clinical excellence: Driven by constant evaluation of current best practice, we continually strive to set the highest standards possible and ensure everyone is given the tools necessary to meet those standards.
- Uncompromising standards for each mission: We will do everything we can to care for our patient and serve the people of Maine, and we will do it with grace and kindness.
- Uncompromising standards for the team: We are committed to an environment of open, honest dialogue where we can learn and grow from our experiences.
