The Valdosta Regional Airport is now home to a new paramedic rescue helicopter, the first of its kind to permanently serve the Valdosta region.

The helicopter is operated by Air Methods, a company that has brought 21 new jobs to Valdosta including nurses, pilots and mechanics.

The helicopter will give patients, especially those in rural areas for from a hospital, a better chance of surviving a life-threatening incident by getting them to the hospital quicker and providing them with state-of-the-art care en route.

With so many rural communities in south Georgia, sometimes it can take up to 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. The air rescue team can cut that time in half.

read more at WALB here.