Hospital Wing Now Has Home at Airport

McKENZIE (December 23) — Hospital Wing medical helicopter service is officially headquartered at Carroll County Airport in McKenzie.

Construction began at the Carroll County Airport for the air medical base service known as Hospital Wing in September. During the August 2024 meeting of the Carroll County Commission, a lease between Carroll County and Med-Trans Corporation was ratified with Med-Trans.

According to the lease agreement, Med-Trans will provide the county with a monthly $3,000 payment. Additionally, the medical group plans to construct a hanger that would include housing/living quarters for its employees on call and other renovations at no cost to the county.

In July 2023, the Med-Trans/Hospital Wing held a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the opening of what was to be their county home base at Baptist Memorial Hospital - Carroll County. At the time, the Baptist Hospital base would have served as a daytime-only base. Due to the lack of a hangar, each day, weather permitting, crews started the morning at the Selmer base and flew to Huntingdon.

A pilot, flight nurse and flight paramedic man the Airbus EC130 helicopter. Each aircraft is equipped with blood, plasma, IVs, ultrasound, and other medical equipment.

With the new hangar and base at the airport in McKenzie, Carroll County is now provided with around-the-clock air ambulance service.

The air ambulance is part of the emergency network supporting local hospitals and first responders. Flights to Memphis or Nashville can be just over 20 minutes compared to two hours via ground transportation. Subscriptions are available to lessen the cost of air transportation.