40th Anniversary Video
A History of Safety and Trust
Life Flight Network is a not-for-profit air medical transport service focused on Safety, Quality, and Service. We are one of the nation’s oldest and most respected air medical providers.
2009

In September of 2009, Boise-based Saint Alphonsus Life Flight made a strategic decision to join Life Flight Network. Both Life Flight Network and Saint Alphonsus Life Flight realized long-term survivability would depend on the ability to collaborate with other like-minded organizations. Founded in 1986, Saint Alphonsus Life Flight’s reputation in Idaho and eastern Oregon was unparalleled.
Today
Today, Life Flight Network is a nationally recognized air medical transport service covering a large part of the Pacific Northwest, Intermountain West and Alaska, all while never losing sight of its core mission – to serve the community by providing critical care transportation to ill or injured patients in a safe, compassionate, efficient, and expeditious manner.
The consortium of Oregon Health & Science University, Legacy Health, Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, and Providence Health & Services own Life Flight Network. The combined strength of these world-class health institutions ensures the quality of the program remains as safe and strong today as when it started in 1978.
Growth to Serve the Community
Life Flight Network continually looks to place bases in rural communities where a recognized need exists for air medical service. Noteworthy milestones in this process were:
- 2010 opened a base in Lewiston, Idaho.
- 2011 opened bases in La Grande, Oregon, and Pocatello, Idaho.
- 2012 opened bases in Redmond and Pendleton, Oregon, and Sandpoint, Idaho.
- 2014 opened a base in Butte, Montana, and becoming an FAA Part 135 air carrier.
- 2015 relocating the Eugene, Oregon base to Cottage Grove, Oregon, and the Pocatello, Idaho base to Burley, Idaho. Two additional bases were opened, in Rexburg, Idaho, and Astoria, Oregon.
- 2016 Northwest MedStar became part of Life Flight Network, adding six base locations to the Life Flight Network footprint: Brewster, Moses Lake, Richland, Pullman, Spokane, and Washington, and Missoula, Montana.
- 2017 opened bases in Newport, Oregon, and Bozeman, Montana.
- 2019 opened bases in Port Angeles and Coupeville, Washington.
- 2020 opened a base in Walla Walla, Washington