LEWISTON - LifeFlight of Maine, the state's only air ambulance service, has been named the best emergency medical program in the country.

The Association of Air Medical Services will present LifeFlight with its Program of the Year Award in Minneapolis on Oct. 20. Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, a base for one of LifeFlight's two helicopters, announced the award Friday during an afternoon barbecue to celebrate the program's 10th anniversary.

A few minutes into the announcement, the helicopter stationed at CMMC lifted off to go to an emergency in Fort Kent, rising into the air above the barbecue to the applause and whistles of dozens of LifeFlight members, hospital workers and former LifeFlight patients.

One of those former patients was 28-year-old Dan Maxfield of Harrison, whose motorcycle collided head-on with a tractor-trailer in Norway in 1999. He was flown to CMMC by a LifeFlight helicopter.

"I don't imagine I'd be here without it," said Maxfield, who lost his left leg because of the crash. "I look at the ambulance like a Model T and LifeFlight like the fastest car in the world."

Created in 1998 by CMMC and Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, LifeFlight has one helicopter based at CMMC and one at EMMC. They provide service throughout the state. An independent, nonprofit service, it has more than 80 employees, including 10 pilots and nearly 40 nurses and medics, and spends $8.5 million a year to stay in the air.

Over the past decade, LifeFlight has transported more than 8,000 patients, a quarter of them from the site of an accident to the hospital, and three-quarters of them from one hospital to another.

Shawn Metayer was one of those transported from hospital to hospital. He spoke at the celebration Friday, recalling his 2005 motorcycle crash.

Metayer was first taken to a small hospital in Boothbay Harbor. Both he and his wife were members of the LifeFlight crew at the time, and she insisted he be flown to a larger hospital with a trauma unit.

"I'm convinced I wouldn't be standing here without LifeFlight," Metayer said. "LifeFlight has given me a second chance."

Sixteen programs were up for the Association of Air Medical Services' award this year. Established in 1980, the association is an international group that serves providers of air and surface medical transport systems.

The association awarded LifeFlight based in part on its superior patient care, leadership and community service. It also chose LifeFlight for its exemplary safety record. Nominees were required to be accident-free for the past year; LifeFlight hasn't had an accident in 10 years.

At the celebration Friday, CMMC Chief Medical Officer Larry Hopperstead called the award "a tribute to everybody who's been a part of this program."

Several former patients and their families agreed, including Lynne Maxfield-Cole, the mother of Dan Maxfield, the man who collided with the tractor-trailer.

"LifeFlight, you are my angels," she said.