Celebrating 75 years of service

Mercy Flights Inc. was founded in 1949 with a social mission to provide life-saving medical transport to rural southern Oregon residents in need. Based in Medford Oregon, Mercy Flights was the nation’s first not-for-profit air ambulance. Today, the integrated mobile healthcare organization responds to over 30,000 medical transport requests and serves residents in southern Oregon and northern California.

In the 1940s, Medford was a bustling, up-and-coming community that many military veterans and new families were calling home. The community was thriving and working together to make southern Oregon a desirable place for their families and others to live. In 1949 the polio epidemic struck and there was an urgent need for healthcare services unlike the area had experienced before. The trek 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, and many patients didn’t survive the turbulent trip to receive the higher level of care they desperately needed.

Mercy Flights Founder George Milligan, a pilot and federal employee of the Civil Aeronautics Authority (now called the Federal Aviation Administration) became increasingly aware of the hardship the polio epidemic was putting on families and loved ones in his community. He would often listen to pleas for help to send a doctor and ambulances over the airway radio while working on shift. Milligan would hear these calls and radio back, estimating the time it would take for help to arrive.

After a well-known businessman passed away due to complications from polio, Milligan found himself pursuing a civic leadership role to advocate for immediate change in healthcare. Milligan called on Medford’s mayor, Diamond Flynn, to discuss southern Oregon’s desperate need for a volunteer air rescue operation and pledged his commitment as the first pilot. Flynn agreed and connected George with key stakeholders, including Medford Mail Tribune Editor, Eric Allen. The local newspaper would later be accredited to Milligan’s success as a continuous supporter of his mission, assisting with fundraising campaigns, building public awareness, and promoting Mercy Flights’ positive impact on the community.

Milligan began recruiting community leaders to serve as Mercy Flights’ board of directors. He sought out hard-working board members that would be a catalyst for a change in healthcare delivery. Members included Medford’s mayor, lumber business owners, an orchardist, a minister, Medford’s only female lawyer, an undertaker, and representatives from the medical community. The board advocated for the organization and took on fundraising efforts, conversations with political leaders, policy development, and much more.

The community stood behind Mercy Flights and in 1949, a group of southern Oregon residents came together to raise funds for Mercy Flights’ first aircraft – a war surplus Cessna. The aircraft was purchased for $3,000 from proceeds raised by a community-wide fundraising event. An additional $1,000 of the profit was raised by school children who had collected milk cartons for the cause.

In the first year of service, Milligan flew seven patients and by the second year, it was 13. Of the 20 patients served, only 10 could afford to pay for the services rendered. In the following years, services doubled and then tripled as the polio epidemic continued to grow. In 1951 Milligan established the first ever membership subscription program, offering flight coverage for an entire family for $2 a year. The membership program was a hit and became popular with families and businesses alike.

It soon became evident that Mercy Flights had under-estimated their demand for services; initially estimating just two flights a month; Milligan was often flying more than two patients a week. True to his military roots, Milligan started painting a Red Cross on the plane after each successful mission. But as demand increased, there wasn’t enough room on the plan to continue the tradition. To date, Mercy Flights is the only organization grandfathered by the America Red Cross to use the red cross on medical aircraft.

It was time to expand Mercy Flights’ fleet, replacing older planes with newer, more advanced models. With a larger fleet, paid and on-call staff replaced volunteers, and Mercy Flights began functioning more like a healthcare organization. The team was guided by Milligan, the board of directors, a chief nurse, and medical advisor.

Sadly, Mercy Flights history included two devastating accidents, one of which took Milligan’s life. In February 1985, George Milligan, Dr. Henry Boehnke, Paramedic Steve Trosin, and an elderly patient were killed in a crash near the Medford Airport when returning from Gold Beach on the Oregon Coast. This was a devastating loss to the organization and the community. Milligan was a revolutionary inspiration, and his presence is still missed today.

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.

As the region grew and FAA regulations changed, landing planes on highways and remote fields was prohibited, so there became a need for helicopter operations to provide on-scene response. After 20 years of leasing services from a local helicopter organization and the demand increasing to over 200 transports annually, Mercy Flights bought its first helicopter in 2015.

Fast forward to 2024, much has changed in the world of healthcare delivery, but Mercy Flights has been, and continues to be, a leader in innovative mobile healthcare services. Today Mercy Flights is a sophisticated healthcare provider embarking on new ways of delivering care, following in its founders’ footsteps. Mercy Flights healthcare team has grown to nearly 200 staff and is comprised of an array of dedicated professionals from community health workers, EMT’s, paramedics, and registered nurses.

Over the years Mercy Flights has also increased the organization’s modes of transportation, expanded membership services, added a Mobile Integrated Healthcare team and implemented an apprentice program.

Helicopters

• Bell 407GX
• Bell 407GWi
• Coverage encompasses 150-miles from Medford, Oregon
• Response to on-scene incidents
• Transported 260 patients in 2023

Airplane

• Two (2) Beechcraft King Air C90GTx
• One (1) Beechcraft King Air C90
• Provide transport to Oregon and four bordering states
• Transported 450 patients in 2023

Ground Ambulance

• 28 Mercedes Benz Sprinter 2500 and 3500
• 2 Ford e350 tyle 2-box ambulances
• 7 support vehicles
• Responded to over 28,000 requests for medical care

Mobile Integrated Healthcare

In 2016 Mercy Flights established an innovative population health initiative called Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH). MIH works to bridge the gaps and improve health outcomes for underserved patients who are discharged from the hospital without the resources they need to recover and thrive. The MIH team visits patients post-discharge wherever they may be living to identify barriers and make sure they receive the follow-up care and services necessary to assist in their recovery and prevent unnecessary return to the hospital. In 2023, 30,000 patients were referred to MIH. The team conducted 5,500 medication reviews, and responded to 500, 988 crisis calls in collaboration with Jackson County Mental Health.

Membership

The membership program has also evolved over the years, offering California and Oregon air-only memberships, combined air and ground family and senior memberships, group rates, angel memberships, lifetime memberships, and event passes. Mercy Flights aspires to have the community see the value that membership can bring not only to themselves, but also to those close to them.

Apprenticeship Program

Mercy Flights’ Southern Oregon EMS Apprenticeship Program (SOEMSAP) 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 believe in our mission, just like our founder did 75 years ago.