“Airlift Northwest, the regions flying intensive care unit, is about to close its only Pierce County emergency helicopter base and move south of Olympia.
Trauma response in Pierce County will be fine and two helicopters will remain within 11 minutes of Tacoma hospitals, said Stephen Lewis, the companys chief executive and a former paramedic and Tacoma native.

Airlift Northwest has good response times to Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Childrens hospitals, and theres no reason to believe that will change, said Todd Kelley, spokesman for MultiCare Health System.

Airlift Northwest considered Chehalis and Centralia before deciding to move from Pierce County Airport, formerly known as Thun Field, to the Olympia Regional Airport in Tumwater.

One way or another, moving from its base on South Hill was a certainty.

It became very clear to us that our footprint needed to move south and southwest, Lewis said this week…

Airlift Northwest, which typically carries accident victims to trauma centers, is expected to set up operations at the Tumwater airport with one helicopter about Feb. 1, said Mike Thielen, president of Glacier Helicopter Service, the companys new landlord.

Thielen said the Olympia airport has superior flight-control tracking equipment, quoting The Olympian.