Mercy Flights celebrates 75 years of service
In August, Mercy Flights celebrates 75 years of mobile integrative healthcare services in southern Oregon and northern California. Currently serving 30,000 neighbors annually, the not-for-profit has grown from providing services with a single fixed-wing aircraft to hosting multiple fixed wing and rotor wing aircrafts and a Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) and ambulance fleet to best suit the needs of our community.
As the first not-for-profit air ambulance organization in the nation, Mercy Flights was founded by George Milligan, a pilot and federal employee of the Civil Aeronautics Authority during the polio epidemic. Milligan knew that a change in healthcare delivery was inevitable, as the journey to Portland, Oregon to reach the closest iron lung and specialty surgical team took close to 10 hours, and the two-lane, narrow road that is now I-5. made transport difficult, with many patients unable to survive the transport.
With the backing of Milligan’s community, a group of southern Oregon residents came together to raise funds for Mercy Flights’ first aircraft – a war surplus Cessna that was purchased for $3,000 from proceeds raised by a community-wide fundraising event. In the first year Milligan flew seven patients and by the second year, that number nearly doubled. Each year the number of flights increased significantly, and Milligan expanded the air fleet and staff accordingly.
In the early 1950’s Milligan established the first ever membership subscription program, offering flight coverage for an entire family for $2 a year. The membership program was a with families and businesses alike. Today, Mercy Flights has over 60,000 members, which is a testament that the community continues to find value in our healthcare services.
Always adapting to the needs of the community, in 1992, Mercy Flights purchased Medford Ambulance Service. This expansion became critical as smaller commercial EMS agencies cut back on their service areas, denied services to patients who could not afford it, or were all together getting out of the EMS business. This is when the Mercy Flight ground fleet was born.
Seventy-five years later, Mercy Flights is continuing the legacy of our founder through innovative healthcare services and compassion to those we serve. One of Mercy Flights’ newer initiatives, the Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH), works to bridge the gaps and improve health outcomes for underserved patients who are discharged from the hospital without the resources needed to recover and thrive. The MIH team visits patients post-discharge to identify barriers, offer resources, and ensure they receive the follow-up care necessary to assist in their recovery to prevent an unnecessary return to the hospital.
In 2023, Mercy Flights established the Southern Oregon EMS Apprenticeship Program (SOEMSAP). This pilot project is leading the way in addressing the forecasted healthcare workforce crisis, focusing on Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and Paramedics professionals. Mercy Flights has engaged with Rogue Community College and local emergency service partners to design an ‘earn while you learn’ model for students to participate in while attending school. The team is also recruiting through local high schools, workforce agencies, and civic groups – with the goal of inspiring the next generation of EMS professionals.
Mercy Flights is honored to serve our neighbors in southern Oregon and northern California, and we are grateful for our community who believes in our mission of saving and enhancing lives by delivering vital integrated mobile healthcare in the sky and valleys below.
