 LifeLink 3 celebrated the grand opening of their newest location in Brainerd. A ribbon-cutting ceremony took place today at the Brainerd Regional Airport. Sarah Winkleman has more. At their now seventh location, LifeLink 3 is officially open for business. It offers extended offers of medical care, air medical, with the populations the way they are and the accidents that happen up here. It's a great resource for local residents. It's a great resource for local EMS, law enforcement, and fire to have another option. There will be four full-time pilots who have rotating 12-hour shifts to make sure they are available 24 hours a day. You can change people's lives and you can turn hours into minutes to get people to appropriate facilities and physicians that can appropriately take care of them. With this newest addition, there are six locations in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin, but the Brainerd base will be a huge asset. There is a large influx of tourism and natives to the area that were definitely underserved and needed another additional helicopter resource in the area. One pilot, one nurse, and one flight paramedic all fit into this helicopter with their patient and all of their equipment. All flights are equipped with machines to measure things like heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels, in addition to an ultrasound to check for internal bleeding. You know, in the summertime, people are out and about. There's voting accidents, ATV accidents. So we're a little more busy in the summer. In the winter, as per Minnesota tradition, everybody just kind of hunkers down, but that still leaves plenty of drownings, ice fishing incidents, other things, snowmobiling accidents that keep us busy in the winter as well. Trauma victims or those with accelerated injuries that continue to become worse over time can count on LifeLink to supply them with the care that they need. When people call with a heart attack or a stroke or maybe respond to the scene of a motor vehicle accident, LifeLink 3 is committed to always sending the closest helicopter, even when it's not one of our own. As part of the Nine Hospital Consortium, Ascension Health State Joseph's Medical Center will also benefit from this new base along with the community. Reporting in Brainerd, Sarah Winkleman, Lakeland News. LifeLink 3 was recently named one of the top 150 workplaces in Minnesota by the Star Tribune. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.