REACH Air Medical Services: 100,000 Lives and Counting!

Abstract

California headquarters will quickly view the 28-year old company’s history detailed along the wall of a frequently used hallway. The graphics, photos, and newspaper reproductions narrate the well-told story of Dr. John McDonald’s determined efforts in the 1980s to transform emergency medicine around his Sonoma County home. As the founder of REACH, he established the foundation for the company that earlier this year exceeded 100,000 patients transported and is a key affiliate of Air Medical Group Holdings. Less visible, but no less important, are the framed lists of values on every associate’s desk at the Santa Rosa, CA, headquarters and at each base. They have become the embodiment of the founder’s sole guidepost—“always do what’s right for the patient.” Every new associate is given a list of values and their respective characteristics and then directed to select his or her own 5 values to display in their work space to guide them in their day-to-day lives. “We all live this culture, we’re all intertwined. It’s a high standard that we set,” says REACH President Sean Russell, whose photo from 1993 when he was a REACH EMT-P, RRT appears on the wall. He remembers well the lessons of the founder and is confident the company continues to represent his principles. “We all may have a slightly different list of values, but we all work every day to do what’s right . . . do what’s right for the patient, do what’s right for our colleagues, do what’s right for our community, do what’s right for REACH,” Mr. Russell says.