Air Evac Lifeteam was established in 1985 by a group of citizens in West Plains, Mo. The goal was to provide air medical transportation and ensure access to emergency health care for their remote community in the Missouri Ozark region. Although air ambulances were primarily based in metropolitan areas at the time, the company founders believed that the people who needed air medical transport the most were those living in rural areas, often far away from a hospital. That was more than 30 years ago. Today, Air Evac Lifeteam is part of Air Medical Group Holdings, the world's largest air ambulance service. Air Evac has more than 130 bases across 15 states.