By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

The Pontiac Kiwanis Club met for lunch Wednesday and learned the history of OSF Life Flight and a new expansion currently underway.

Karen Arndt, outreach coordinator for Life Flight, said the program began in January of 1967 in Peoria and has since expanded to Bloomington, Pontiac, Rockford and Peru. They are looking to staff a fourth helicopter for quicker emergency response.

“Currently, what we’re doing right now, is we’re upstaffing our fourth aircraft (our backup aircraft) with a full medical crew and a pilot and on the days we have enough staff to upstaff, we’re going to be putting it on the helipad in Bloomington for that week, then we’re going to be off for a week, because the pilots work a week on and a week off. Then, the following week, we’ll be stationed here at the helipad at St. James. Then another week off before going back to Bloomington. We’ll be out here, weather permitting, usually from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. so we can get back for shift change. But we will be stationed out here to provide a more rapid response, to help bring the patients to St. James and serve our patients here at St. James,” Arndt said.

For more information, visit osflifeflight.org.