Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) is a nationally recognized medical facility and academic center located within the City of Pittsburgh. Geographically situated in southwestern Pennsylvania, AGH includes as its catchment region, the tri-state metropolitan, and rural communities. This region encompasses western Pennsylvania, southeastern Ohio, and northwestern West Virginia. The trauma program at AGH was formally established in 1979. Thereafter, AGH opened Pennsylvania’s first trauma intensive care unit in 1986 and later that year became the first accredited trauma center in the region.
The LifeFlight program operated by AGH is a regional helicopter transportation service providing rapid transportation of the critically ill and injured patients in need of immediate and specialized care. Established in 1978, LifeFlight was the first hospital-based emergency aeromedical transportation system in the northeastern United States. Currently, five helicopters are based throughout the catchment area to operate rotor wing service within a 150-mile radius of the City of Pittsburgh, effectively covering 3.6 million lives. AGH has been committed to the trauma and LifeFlight programs by developing and maintaining a trauma system that is a center for excellence in patient care providing care to over 3000 injured patients annually.