John Coffelt, Editor

Air Evac 44 Lifeteam celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a celebration and ribbon cutting April 25 at the station on Volunteer Parkway.

Manchester Chamber Executive Director Katy Riddle said her organization embraces celebrating businesses, especially those that provide a valuable public service like Air Evac.

“Two decades (in business here), that’s amazing,” Riddle said. “This in not only a service that we’re lucky to have, but it’s something that people depend on for their wellbeing.”

Air Evac 44 Program Director Monica Meeks said the station started 20 years ago, housed in an apartment near the former United Medical Center Hospital.

“The helicopter was staged about two miles away,” she said. The Volunteer Parkway location was originally set up as a regional maintenance operation, though that duty is mostly performed at different locations.

“We had two deployments for hurricane relief,” Meeks said. “Once was after Hurricane Katrina. About half the base here was gone for about three weeks.”

Recently two crewmembers participated in Hurricane Helene relief.  

The base hosts about 70 hours of continuing education for area medical partners. 

“We could not do what we do without the community…without our partners,” Meeks said. 

Tennessee Program Director Tim Booher commended the local base, “We have an amazing team here. I can’t say enough about Monica and her team, the job that they do.” 

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.