AirMed ECMO program continues its success

AirMed: Patient Transport for ECMO 

AirMed continues to be one of only a handful of air ambulance programs in the world capable of ECMO transport for both pediatric and adult patients. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, or ECMO, is a complicated life-saving treatment similar to a heart-lung machine.

“We have received a tremendous response from the medical community across the country at the growth our ECMO program and the level of care and safety that we provide each individual patient,” said AirMed’s Mike Key, director of business development. “We are honored to be a crucial resource to the ECMO community and to play a small part in delivering these critically ill patients to life-saving facilities.”

The basic framework of ECMO involves removing the blood from the patient, oxygenating it outside of the body (removing the carbon dioxide and adding oxygen), and then replacing it back into the patient. On its fleet of medical aircraft, AirMed has the capability of transporting ECMO patients and their complicated equipment from one hospital to another’s critical care program.

AirMed’s Hawker 800 aircraft is up to three times larger than the planes used by 99% of other air ambulance companies. In conjunction with teams from ECMO Advantage, AirMed’s medical staff undergoes extensive ECMO training in order to treat patients whose conditions include both congenital and acute cardiac and respiratory failure.