Air Link at Regional West

03/28/2026

Our job takes us to a large variety of cities and hospitals throughout the region. When a patient requires a higher level of care, our highly trained crew may fly them to hospitals in Denver, Fort Collins, Loveland, Cheyenne, or Rapid City.

Air Link nurses Hannah K. and Hannah B. recently got to fly a patient into Denver Health with our rotor wing pilot, Stacy. Denver Health is a Level One Trauma Center located in the heart of downtown Denver. The views flying past all the high rises with the mountains in the distance never gets old!

03/20/2026

In Nebraska, we’re used to extreme weather conditions and drastic changes. However, 2026 seems to be keeping us on our toes just a little bit more than usual … can you say 80 to 90 degree weather in March? With the nice weather and fun festivities coming up, it’s important to stay hydrated, wear your seatbelts, and plan to have designated drivers when needed. Remember, distracted driving can be just as dangerous as impaired driving. Keep your eyes on the road, be aware, and take care of each other.

Gering High School recently did an incredible job making a “safe driving” video that included some of these tips. Here are a few behind the scenes shots from our day working with them.

Thank you to the students and instructors at Gering High School, Gering Fire Department, Regional West Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and Nebraska State Patrol for collaborating and including us on this project!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-dpISPgp7M

03/13/2026

Can you believe the first quarter of 2026 is nearly over?! The weather has been incredibly mild and beautiful, and both of our aircraft have been doing plenty of flying the last couple of months.

Lately we’re all just running on caffeine and jet fuel!

We’re holding up our coffee to cheer all the ranchers who are in the midst of calving season, all the farmers prepping for planting, all our hardworking hospital employees at Regional West, and everyone else in our lovely community who is reading this and getting excited about a fast-approaching spring.

It’s good to be part of team western Nebraska. We’re grateful for all of you!

03/11/2026

Regional West ultrasound technologist Michaela Gasseling and Air Link flight nurse Micki Votruba recently attended a career fair hosted by Hemingford Public Schools. Over 400 students from six schools had a chance to visit with area employers and colleges. Thank you for inviting us!

02/25/2026

Air Link just held our annual Competency Day where we practice, review, and teach each other something new. For many of us, being a flight medic or nurse really feels like the peak of our career. Arriving at the peak doesn’t mean we stay there and rest; in that case we would slowly and surely start coasting down. Instead, we must constantly be climbing to make sure we are bringing top notch care to our patients.

Pictured here is one of our flight medics, Meg, teaching us some new EKG reading tricks.

We are so grateful and honored to be part of this team while putting in the work together to stay at the top of our game.

02/23/2026

Sending out a warm western Nebraska welcome to Wyatt Fry, Air Link’s new fixed wing pilot! Wyatt is from Morgan, Utah, and started flying in January 2022. Not only has he made flying his career – it’s also what he enjoys doing in his free time.

“The world is just so much more beautiful when you're flying above it, and it never fails to inspire me," he said.

We’re glad to have you on the Air Link team, Wyatt!

02/18/2026

Thank you to everyone who submitted a comment in our Facebook content survey post! We’re looking forward to bringing you plenty of fresh and interesting material this year.

One area of interest is education for our regional EMS crews, law enforcement, and interfacility requestors.

Let’s talk about In-Air Standbys. For many sick and injured patients, minutes matter. In-Air Standbys are designed to decrease the time from a patient’s 911 call to the time they arrive at a definitive care facility. An In-Air Standby will activate our crew to start moving your direction as quickly as possible. The pilot will perform a weather check and ready the aircraft with the medical crew, and preflight procedures will be completed. As long as the aircraft is available, our pilot is within the flight time window, and weather is flyable, we will lift and head to the scene or facility so that we are enroute or circling over the incident location, waiting for further direction. This decreases the time of response and subsequently the time it takes to get a patient to definitive care; i.e. surgery, trauma services, interventional cardiac catheterization lab, pediatrics, neurosurgery, or other specialty resources. We will remain in In-Air Standby until either told to officially respond or stand down.

There are some very rural settings in western Nebraska that take an extended time for ground services to reach. Requestors do NOT have to physically be on scene to request us. If there is an extensive travel time for your ground crew to get on scene and you are unsure of the patient’s condition, request an In-Air Standby and we’ll meet you at the scene!

Who can utilize an In-Air Standby? EMS agencies, law enforcement, and interfacility requestors!

Does the patient or requesting agency or facility get charged for an In-Air Standby? No! Which is why this is such a valuable, time saving tool. Our job is to be ready for YOU and our patients, so please don’t hesitate to call.

02/14/2026

We were lucky enough to start our Valentine’s morning with our sweet friends from iCare ambulance service in Fort Collins! Shout out to James from iCare for always being in a fabulous mood and being a pleasant, welcoming committee for us and our patients.

We hope you all have a fun, safe day with your loved ones!

02/12/2026

Good morning, western Nebraska. What a beautiful sunrise!

01/23/2026

Hemingford Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) is one of our local EMS departments with whom we have the pleasure of working. They recently received two new monitors that will help them continue providing much needed rescue services to area residents and people passing through who are ill or injured. This happened with the assistance of donations contributed in memory of a dear community friend, Pat Manning. Thanks to gracious memorials in Pat’s name, vital tools were purchased to help others in need. God bless you, Pat! Congratulations Hemingford VFD on the beautiful new monitors, and thank you for including Air Link in the care of your critically ill, injured, and time-sensitive patients.

Volunteer rescue units and fire departments are a crucial resource in western Nebraska and we are so appreciative for all of these selfless and hardworking individuals.

What other local crews have exciting news or stories to share with us?!

Comment below so we can see what’s been happening in your neck of the prairie!

01/21/2026

We would like to extend a big shoutout to the West Nebraska Blood Center team who recently traveled to Gordon for a mobile blood drive at Gordon Memorial Hospital. We appreciate all you do to help ensure we have life-saving blood available on our aircraft to administer to our patients. Thank you to everyone who took time to donate blood that will stay in the local area!

01/19/2026

Congratulations on the opening of the Northern Colorado base. We appreciate all you do for regional air medical care!

🚑 ✈️Opening Date Confirmed – KFNL Base

We’re excited to confirm that iCare Ambulance’s Northern Colorado Regional Airport (KFNL) base will officially open on January 5th, 2026.

This location strengthens our ability to support the air medical and organ transplant communities throughout Northern Colorado, while maintaining the high level of service our partners expect from iCare Ambulance.

Thank you to everyone who has helped bring this base from concept to reality. We’re looking forward to being fully operational at KFNL in January!