LCSO Message of the Week on June 27, 2025 from Lieutenant Bret Willey

Message of the Week 06/27/2025, written by Lieutenant Bret Willey of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office:

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office takes great pride in partnering with multiple law enforcement, medical, and civilian programs within the county. One such program that the Sheriff’s Office has partnered with since 2024 is Battle Born Medevac, a service of the Rural Medevac Alliance. Based out of Yerington, this privately owned company was created to better serve the citizens of Lyon County, with an emphasis on the southern portions of Silver Springs, Yerington, Mason Valley, Wellington, and Smith Valley.

This program offers emergency medical services through the primary use of a helicopter, and a ground medical transport vehicle. Battle Born Medevac began operations and were deployed by helicopter on June 19th, 2024. Since then, they have been called to serve during numerous medical emergencies, public events such as Night in the Country, and have provided stand-by emergency medical options during critical incidents in all areas of the county. Some of the many options they provide for the Deputies is an immediate response during LCSO SWAT operations, patrol critical incidents, and assisting all county Fire Protection Districts with emergency medevac call outs.

Since 2024, Battle Born Medevac has been going through an ongoing accreditation program through the National Accreditation Alliance of Medical Transport Applications (NAAMTA). During this accreditation period, they have been tested through pilot certification, both day and night flight operations, paramedic training, and have been proven to adhere to the highest standards in the air medical industry. They provide safety, professionalism, and compassionate care on every flight.

Each flight crew includes a highly trained pilot, flight nurse, and a flight paramedic that are all capable of delivering ICU-level critical care, whether at a rural clinic, hospital or on scene. On June 11th, they successfully completed the accreditation process and even added a second helicopter to their fleet. Many of the flight crew have 10+ years of experience in aviation, and emergency medical services. As a locally based, community-focused provider, they offer a personalized approach that sets them apart from larger models of medevac services.

The crew works in partnership with the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Division and have even created and provided the Dispatch center with a proprietary Computer Aided Dispatching (CAD) System. This system was integrated into our Dispatch center and the flight crew has provided ongoing training and support to our Dispatch team. The Sheriff’s Office has assigned one of our Dispatch supervisors as the subject matter expert and liaison to the program. This supervisor is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Dispatch shift and also has the responsibility of ensuring that all Battle Born Medevac training is being conducted. This includes ensuring that all rules, regulations, and policies are being adhered to, as well as doing regular audits on the calls for service which are being dispatched. This was a large undertaking for our Dispatch center as it added additional duties and responsibilities to all Dispatch team members. Our team is required to enter the medical call into the CAD system, dispatch the pilots and crew through radio, as well as continually monitor flight paths and conditions during the calls for service.

Through a new collaboration with SB Energy, all permanent residents of Lyon County are now automatically enrolled in the Rural Medevac Alliance membership with no sign up required. Any medically necessary air transports are fully covered with zero out-of-pocket costs. To learn more about Battle Born Medevac and the Rural Medevac Alliance (RMA), please visit ruralmedevac.com, follow them on social media, or follow the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.