The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics' Air and Mobile Critical Service is an integrated delivery system focused on providing timely emergency and critical care in the field, in outlying hospitals as well as during the actual air or ground transport. AirCare provides air and ground critical services to the people of central and eastern Iowa as well as western Illinois with extended coverage capability into Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri.

The AirCare emergency helicopter service at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics was the first hospital-based emergency air medical program in Iowa, and one of the first 15 programs in the nation, making its first flight in 1979.

Our helicopters and ground ambulances rapidly transport critically ill and severely injured patients, delivering medical care en route with an emphasis on supporting high risk patient populations, including multi-system trauma victims, neonates, pediatric patients and patients suffering from time-sensitive or complex medical conditions.

AirCare I is based at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, and flies with a crew of two registered nurses with varying supplementation with a flight physician. AirCare II is based at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo and flies with one registered nurse and one paramedic.

AirCare is the only flight program in the state affiliated with an emergency medicine residency and is the only flight program in the state supplementing its medical crew with flight physicians. Faculty emergency medicine physicians and senior emergency medicine resident physicians regularly supplement the flight teams as medical providers. The physicians serve as bedside medical control and reinforce the working relationships with referring physicians and hospitals.

AirCare regularly collaborates with nearly 100 emergency medical services, fire, and law enforcement programs throughout Iowa and the region. It transports patients from more than 50 hospitals that serve hundreds of communities across the region.

All aviation services for the University of Iowa AirCare are provided by Air Methods Corporation.

Medical Flight Communications for AirCare are handled by LifeCom and can be reached at 800-272-6440 for all flight requests 24 hours a day. They are responsible for proper intake information, communication with the pilot regarding flight status, as well as communication with the medical crew. LifeCom uses state of the art equipment for flight dispatch, flight following, and telecommunications.