An Air Evac Lifeteam accounting office in Houston will fold this fall in a corporate restructuring that will send its Texas County employees to West Plains.
Air Evac Lifeteam, a provider of air medical transportation to rural communities, is moving its headquarters from West Plains to O’Fallon near St. Louis.
The company began in 1985 in Howell County, and in May 2009 it opened a satellite office in a Houston Development Co. building on Spruce Street that was renovated to accommodate it. A little more than a year later, additional space was secured in the building with the promise of additional jobs. The Houston Development Co. is not-for-profit corporation who shareholders have an interest in seeing the community progress.
Employees were told about the moves in meetings last Wednesday. In West Plains 120 jobs will shift to O’Fallon and 30 positions will go to a facility in Lewisville, Texas. That will bring from 600 to 495 the number of employees at the West Plains offices.
Forty-five Houston employees will be moved to West Plains from the company’s patient accounts division in a building that also houses the Exceptional Child Cooperative.
The membership-supported air ambulance service operates 107 bases in 15 states. It operates the world’s largest fleet of more than 120 medically equipped Bell 206 Long Ranger helicopters, Air Evac officials said.
The company is expanding its facilities to enhance its ability to deliver air medical transportation services throughout the country and position it for future growth, said Air Evac Public Relations Manager Julie Heavrin of West Plains. The changes are expected to be fully implemented by November, she said.
One of the other reasons for the move, Heavrin said, is greater access to a potential employee pool, that many times people who are qualified for some of the Air Evac jobs do not want to live in a rural area.
West Plains will continue to retain a significant portion of the operations and will continue to be the location of the largest single group of employees for membership, patient accounts and the completion center, Heavrin said. The maintenance building on Bratton Avenue will stay open, she said.
A communications center will be set up in O’Fallon but Air Evac will maintain its communications center in West Plains to provide a dual-pronged approach to the dispatch of medical transport. That would also leave one center open in case one is damaged in a catastrophic event such as an earthquake, she said.
About 30 positions in accounts and information technology will be shifted from West Plains to the facility in Lewisville, outside Dallas.
As part of the transition, all employees in the positions slated to move may keep their jobs and take advantage of relocation assistance the company is offering. Or severance packages are available for those who do not want to move, Heavrin said.
“After careful consideration, we have developed a plan to carefully position our people and resources in locations where they will best serve our bases, employees and customers for the long term,” said Air Evac Lifeteam President Seth Myers.
“This includes a firm commitment to the city of West Plains that has been our home for the past 27 years and will continue to be the location for the largest portion of our employee base for a long time to come.
“At the same time, our new headquarters location will provide access to a major airport hub for quick dissemination of parts and supplies to our bases and to the additional people and resources we need to maintain and build upon our continued growth,” he said.
The St. Charles County city with a population of about 79,000 was selected after an extensive search and analysis of 20 other locations, Heavrin said. The review showed benefits also include better ability to recruit talent nationally, increased air access to dispersed company operations and attractive real estate options, Heavrin said. The O’Fallon headquarters will be in a new 78,000-square-foot office building that will house 120 corporate, flight operations staff, operational control center, Medlink and maintenance control and allow space for future growth, she said.
Employees were told of the move in a meeting Wednesday, with 120 of their jobs shifted to O’Fallon and 30 positions going to a facility in Lewisville, Texas.
Forty-five employees will be shifted to West Plains from the company’s patient accounts division Houston office in Texas County. That office will be closed. It operates from a building owned by the Houston Development Co. on Spruce Street.