Kapiolani Transport Team Joins Emergency Airlift to Celebrate New Falcon 50 Air Ambulance

Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children recently teamed up with Emergency Airlift, a new air ambulance provider for Hawaii and the Pacific Rim that supports neonatal and pediatric transports to and from the mainland.

As part of its operations in Hawaii, Emergency Airlift has introduced a new aircraft, a Falcon 50 Air Ambulance, which offers additional benefits not previously available to Kapiolani’s Critical Care Transport Team, patients and their families. 

The Falcon 50 Air Ambulance is a comfortable long-range aircraft that offers the added benefits of a full lavatory, hot meal service and spacious cabin that allows a family member to travel with pediatric patients, which was not previously available for Hawaii. 

In addition, the aircraft allows the Kapiolani Critical Care Transport Team to be able to use its Pediatric Critical Care Sled and ECMO (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) Transport System, two unique systems that allow safe transport to the mainland of some of the most critically ill children. 

“We’re excited to partner with Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children to increase the services available to people in Hawaii and the Pacific region, and to help ensure patients who are in need of transport to and from the mainland get the care they need,” said Emergency Airlift CEO Ed Langerveld. 

“Kapiolani provides the only neonatal and pediatric transport program in the state, and without the support of our ambulance partners, we would not be able to provide this lifesaving service for our patients and their families” said Kapiolani Transport Team Manager Melody Kilcommons.

“We are grateful to Emergency Airlift for bringing this new aircraft to Hawaii, which now allows us to safely transport some of our most critically ill patients to the mainland when needed,” Kilcommons said.

Kapiolani’s Critical Care Transport Program, which began in 1989, includes doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists who have specialized training in neonatal and pediatric transport medicine.

The team provides transport via airplane and/or ambulance statewide 365 days a year. 

The Kapiolani Critical Care Transport Team has used Emergency Airlift’s services approximately 10 times since it established a base in Honolulu. 

In 2015, the team safely transported more than 600 patients across Oahu, from the neighbor islands, and to the mainland. The team, which is the only transport team with transpacific civilian ECMO transport capabilities, has completed seven successful ECMO missions, including three adult patient transfers. 

For more information about Kapiolani’s Critical Care Transport Program, watch the video below or click here.

Published on: June 25, 2016