Transporting the Smallest Critical Patients

A Heart Full of Love and Hope

One of our tiniest and most critically ill patients teaches us all a lesson of the human spirit

In October of 2010, AirMed met a miracle.

Alexis Cormier of Hazel Green, Alabama, was born with HLHS, a rare congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped. It stands for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. At age 3, she underwent a third surgery to help her symptoms, but after this complicated surgery, her entire heart was damaged beyond repair. She was immediately put on ECMO.

ECMO is a highly specialized treatment that stands for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. It is similar to a heart-lung machine and in effect, it removes the blood from the patient,

The tiny patient seen among her life saving equipment
before the first air medical ECMO transport

oxygenates it outside of the body (removing carbon dioxide and adding oxygen) and then replaces it back into the patient. AirMed has the capability of transporting ECMO patients and all of the complicated equipment from one hospital to another’s critical care program. AirMed is one of only a handful of air ambulance programs in the world capable of this type of transport for both pediatric and adult patients.

After being placed on ECMO, Alexis’ hospital in Memphis requested she be moved to Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, and AirMed’s ECMO transport team was called into action.

Just four days after her first ECMO transport flight, it was decided that Alexis needed to be transported again, this time to UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, where she would receive a Berlin (artificial) heart.

Once more, the AirMed teams transported Alexis with their specialized ECMO equipment to UAB. This 3 year old who had struggled so much already in her short lifetime looked so small and helpless amidst all of the equipment. Her family held out for a miracle, but her will was strong and would not be denied.

Only four weeks later, members of the AirMed transport team traveled to UAB Hospital to find Alexis standing, smiling, brushing her teeth and splashing in the water at her hospital room sink. The only outward signs of any illness were a small feeding tube and two catheters under her clothing, connected at her lower abdomen. These catheters supply blood to her Berlin heart and return it to her circulatory system.

The Berlin heart device works by helping the right ventricle of the heart to pump blood to the lungs and the left ventricle to pump blood to the body. The bulk of the device is extracorporeal (outside the body); only the tubes are implanted. They emerge from small openings to enter the pump, a small round chamber, and the system is run by a laptop computer. 

The Berlin Heart is intended to be used as a bridge to recovery or as a bridge to a transplant, which Alexis required. She was listed as 1-A on the nationwide heart recipient list, meaning she was among the top pediatric priorities. 

Within a year, Alexis was undergoing a full blown heart transplant and now, in 2013, she is a thriving and active first grader. 

Every one of us at AirMed International is grateful to be able to touch a life such as Alexis Cormier’s during our day to day duties.

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Medical Transportation to Cincinnati Children's Hospital

Medical Transportation to Cincinnati Children's Hospital

AirMed serves as the primary fixed wing vendor for the acclaimed Cincinnati Children's Hospital, which provides a wide range of clinical services and pediatric care specialists dedicated to improving the health of children.  Our fixed wing medical aircraft is available to them as they transport young patients from across the United States to their facilities.

Their pediatric urgent care specialists are nationally recognized for medical excellence; U.S. News & World Report ranked Cincinnati Children’s No. 3 in the nation in the magazine’s 2013-2014 list of the best children’s hospitals.

Shown here is one of Cincinnati Children's isolettes used in transport flights.

"We appreciate the professionalism displayed by everyone at the AirMed organization. Your attention to even the smallest details during flight operations is invaluable to our teams. As the primary vendor for Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), AirMed continues to meet and exceed our standards of service,"  a quote from the clinical director CCHMC Transport Program.

The critical-care transport team uses the most up-to-date equipment, including invasive and non-invasive cardio-respiratory monitoring, transport nitric oxide, newborn and pediatric ventilators, emergency medications, chest drainage systems and cervical spine immobilization equipment. 

CCHMC teams train alongside AirMed medical and flight staff on fire safety, water safety, altitude physiology and stressors of flight which provides much needed communication to keep every transport running smoothly.

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.