posted August 25, 2020

As the battle against COVID-19 rages on, so does the demand for patient care in rural areas. Recently, Univision, a leading Hispanic media company in the U.S., got an inside look at the heroic work Mercy Air crews are doing during the pandemic to move patients out of crowded hospitals in Southern California. Mercy Air, a subsidiary of Air Methods, established a base in Imperial County to focus on serving residents and bridging the distance between patients and the level of care they require.

Imperial County, a rural and impoverished region in Southern California with a population of about 180,000 people, has been a COVID-19 hotspot. At one point, the county was averaging about 900 infections per 100,000 people, compared with 371 in Los Angeles County during the same two-week period.

In response to the surge in Imperial County, a Mercy Air team that primarily focused on car accidents and other emergencies near the border pivoted their efforts to transport COVID-19 patients to hospitals across the state. Since March, Mercy Air has taken more than 100 COVID-19 patients out of Imperial County for treatment.

You can watch the full story from Univision here.

Mercy Air’s work in Imperial County is one of many instances of Air Methods crews going out of their way to support vulnerable communities. Across the country, Air Methods teams have worked tirelessly to transport COVID-19 patients out of overcrowded rural hospitals to other facilities. We could not be prouder of the entire Air Methods team for their dedication to coordinating care on the frontlines for those who need it most.