ASHLEY LAWRENCE: Two units before I left the ground.

BILLY SHIELDS: Ashley Lawrence owns a farm in Amelia County.

She vaguely remembers the date her accident happened in 2024, just that it was a Saturday.

ASHLEY LAWRENCE: Me and my husband and my daughter were drilling a hole with an auger attached to a tractor into the ground.

BILLY SHIELDS: She says that auger hit a rock, jumped out and spun into her side.

ASHLEY LAWRENCE: My left leg was completely wrapped around it.

My hands were stuck.

I was upside down.

BILLY SHIELDS: She lost her leg and a little finger.

But the first responders on the chopper that came to take her to VCU Health provided her with a blood transfusion and stabilized her on the way to the hospital.

ASHLEY LAWRENCE: And it was like, I swear we made it there in five minutes.

It was super fast.

The Med-Flight program out of the Chesterfield County Airport is a partnership between state police and Chesterfield Fire and EMS.

GREGORY JONES: Not only do we do medevac work, but we also provide law enforcement support as well as search and rescue.

BILLY SHIELDS: They serve 33 counties, about a third of the state, and it is funded through the state police's budget and a fund for trauma centers, which provides $1.4 million after VCU Health recently pulled out of the partnership.

LOY SENTERS: The most recent General Assembly session has kept that language in place.

And, going forward, we believe that the balance of the funding above the $450,000 it comes from the general fund will be drawn down from the state trauma fund.

BILLY SHIELDS: For patients like Lawrence, the Med-Flight service is completely free.

In fact, because it is publicly funded it's legally barred from making a profit.

Currently, its funding relies on that trauma center fund, which officials worry may not be a permanent solution.

LOY SENTER: So our concerns were that it should come out of the general fund.

Because what we don't want to do is take away from any type of funding that would cover other areas of need throughout the state.

BILLY SHIELDS: There are plenty of private medevac services in the state, but they cost thousands of dollars to use.

By one estimate, it can cost an uninsured person between $25,000 to $100,000, depending on distance.

If funding is cut, officials say some of the state's most vulnerable could be affected.

LOY SENTER: So a lot of these individuals are in rural areas, away you know, it could be an hour or more away from, a Level I trauma center.

BILLY SHIELDS: A spokesperson from the Virginia Hospital and Health Care Association said, “We work with EMS agencies across the board.

Hospitals have productive relationships with emergency medical services and transport professionals.

As it relates to this particular instance, our hope would be that any funding for this program is not pulled from the trauma center fund.” As things currently stand, the program is set to receive its trauma center fund money, but Governor Glenn Youngkin could decide to change that in next year's budget.

Officials are hoping a permanent solution could be on the horizon.

Billy Shields, VPM News.