Cody Regional Health is partnering up with SCL Health out of Billings to create the first Wyoming-owned flight program. The goal is to provide higher quality and lower cost for medical patients in Northern Wyoming.

The air flight program will transport northern Wyoming patients to hospitals close by, like Casper or Billings. It will replace for profit programs that the hospitals have been using.

Keith Ungrund, Cody Regional Health’s chief clinical officer, said the program came about as they expanded their EMS program to two other counties.

“You kind of look at the regionalization that was happening already with the ground service, adding a flight service to complement those services just seemed to make sense,” he said.

Ungrund said they’ll be able to reduce the cost of transport flights by 40 percent. The hospital will purchase a helicopter and hire 18 employees for the program, which will likely launch in May.