For the City Times

STEVENS POINT – Ascension Wisconsin Spirit Medical Transport Services (Spirit) has announced plans to relocate the Spirit 1 Helicopter to the Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA) located in Mosinee.

“Ascension Wisconsin has been working for several months on plans to upgrade the hangar space for our Spirit 1 helicopter,” said Ted Ryan, director, Ascension Wisconsin Spirit Medical Transport. “The relocation is scheduled to be completed in mid-November and includes the Spirit 1 Helicopter, Ascension associates who are medical flight crew members as well as pilots and mechanics who are employees of Air Methods Corporation.”

Spirit will initially operate at CWA out of existing hangar space and facilities provided by Central Wisconsin Aviation.

“Once the relocation is complete, work will resume on planning and development of the new hangar that will provide new permanent space for the helicopter and maintenance crew as well as sleeping quarters and office space,” said Ryan.

The project consists of an 18,000 square-foot hangar built on approximately 75,000 square feet of land leased from the airport.

“CWA will serve as the base location for the Spirit 1 helicopter,” said Ryan. “The project has been sized to accommodate the storage of two medical helicopters, a fixed-wing transport aircraft and ambulances if circumstances like weather impact operations and storage is needed.”

For the past two years, Spirit 1 has been located at the Stevens Point Municipal Airport.

Hospital based ambulances for inter-facility transport by Spirit will continue to operate out of Ascension St. Michael’s Hospital in Stevens Point and Ascension St. Clare’s Hospital in Weston as well as existing locations in the Northwoods.

The base for the Spirit 2 Helicopter will remain at Howard Young Medical Center, part of Ascension in Woodruff and the Fixed-Wing Aircraft Spirit 3 will continue to call Arbor Vitae home.

The Central Wisconsin Joint Airport Board approved the lease agreement on Oct. 18. The CWA Hangar project will still require approval from city of Mosinee Plan Commission and the state of Wisconsin.

Once approved, the project plan calls for construction to begin in mid-November with an anticipated completion date of August 2020.

For over 25 years, Spirit has provided critical care transport for patients and communities throughout central and northern Wisconsin. Today it serves central and northern Wisconsin and beyond with four ground bases and 12 ambulances located strategically in key communities, two helicopters located in Woodruff, and soon Mosinee and a fixed-wing airplane in Arbor Vitae.