By RODGER NICHOLS
of The Dalles Chronicle
If you live in the gorge and beyond, your chances of surviving a health crisis just got better.
Life Flight, the Portland-based air ambulance service, announced plans late Monday to expand its operations to The Dalles and Eugene.
That means stationing a helicopter and crew in each city by the middle of June, a move that will add $1 million in annual local payroll. (See story on page A4.)
For The Dalles, the helicopter would be based at the Columbia Gorge Regional Airport, and critical patients needing transport to Portland won’t have to wait the extra flight time from Aurora to The Dalles.
“This is huge,” said Duane Francis, President of Mid-Columbia Medical Center. “This is one of the top two or three enhancements to health care in this region for the last five or ten years.”
