Aerocare Air Ambulance Blog

By Doug Swan

CHICAGO, IL (September 23, 2016) AeroCare transports all types of patients with many different kinds of healthcare needs. Being a leader in the fixed-wing air ambulance industry for more than 21 years, AeroCare has experience with just about every kind of patient. Some of the most complex air medical transports the company does involves the smallest types of patients – neonates.

AeroCare is specially equipped to transport neonatal infants or neonates on their air ambulance aircraft with the use of a special neonatal incubator, known as an isolette. The isolette resembles a basinet that is covered in plastic. NICUs in hospitals use isolettes to monitor and control the neonates environment. The isolette that AeroCare uses onboard their aircraft is the same type of incubator. It allows the medical team to control the neonate’s environment. AeroCare’s team of neonatal medical specialists can monitor the neonate in the isolette and administer oxygen, fluids, and medications. They can control the air humidity, and temperature. They can also monitor the neonate’s blood pressure, cardiac function, oxygenation and more. The unique aspect of AeroCare’s neonatal transports is all of this is going on while traveling 300 mph through the air and at 40,000 feet.

The neonatal medical crew has to be prepared for any scenario while on a medical air transport. The neonate is transported by a top-notch team of experts at AeroCare. AeroCare employs experienced neonatal medical crew members like neonatal, pediatric transport RN Maureen Trybula and respiratory therapist and neonatal pediatric specialist Jennifer Watts. Trybula and Watts expert skills were recently tested when they transported a one-month-old neonate that was in critical condition across the country, from Washington, D.C. to Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital in California. The team was also accompanied by Dr. Michael Fitzgerald. “Although she remained stable for us throughout the flight, she was the type of patient who could deteriorate at any second, so preparing for many different outcomes was imperative” said Trybula.

This particular case was unique. The neonate was being flown to California to undergo a highly complex surgery on her heart. The baby was born with several major cardiac defects. The only method to transport a critical patient like this is by way of a fixed-wing air ambulance jet. AeroCare used their Learjet 31 medical jet. This state-of-the-art jet is outfitted like a flying ICU. “This neonate patient was on 8 life-saving intravenous drips, mechanical ventilation, hemodynamic monitoring and required the isolette to maintain her temperature throughout the transport” said Trybula.

Luckily families that face needing to transport a tiny patient across the country for specialized care can turn to AeroCare for help. People trust AeroCare and their highly trained medical crew to perform delicate and complex missions like this one. Trybula said “This was an incredibly emotional experience for us all. This mother was fighting for her daughter's life and we were so honored to help in such a vital part of her journey. We shared a very emotional and tear-filled hug at the end of the night.”