A new bird is flying through the skies in Northwestern North Dakota.

Trinity Health welcomed its new NorthStar Criticair service helicopter to the region this week and today it was time to show it off.

The new chopper takes the place of the older, outdated helicopter that served the region for years.

Art Haskins in the lead paramedic and says even though it has only been here for a few days, it has already been out on missions bringing patients to Minot.

After being without a chopper for a few weeks, this is a sight he is happy to see...

(Art Haskins - Paramedic Coordinator) "We are just happy to be back in service. We switched vendors so we are with Executive Air out of Bismarck. They gave us a bigger, faster aircraft with more power. It is nice for the crew! We have air conditioning now and there are many other extra features on this chopper that we are happy with."

While air conditioning is great, there are numerous upgrades that will increase patient care.

We'll hear about those in this week's Eye on Health...this Sunday on KX News. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list