Transporting precious cargo
The office of the Children's Service Board Emergency Transport Team in Children's Memorial's emergency department is a small space with just enough room for a few desks and computers. But that hardly matters since this busy group of 21 nurses and respiratory therapists don't have the luxury of spending much time “at the office.”
Last year the team performed 1,262 transports, averaging 105 per month. Most were within a 50-mile radius of the hospital, although it's not unusual for them to go as far as central Illinois or Wisconsin. In the most critical situations, children may be transported by helicopter to the hospital's rooftop helipad. Last year's helicopter transports totaled about100.
Craig LaRusso, RN, an 8-year veteran of the transport team who was previously a nurse in Children's Memorial's Emergency Department and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) , is typical of the team's dedicated members.
“Our job is fairly straightforward — stabilize patients at the referring hospital and get them to Children's Memorial as quickly as possible,” he says.
The transport team has one dedicated ambulance, with additional vehicles available as needed. As many as three separate sub-teams are available, depending on the time of day. Calls typically come from referring hospitals' emergency rooms, intensive care units and neonatal intensive care units. LaRusso says the most frequent calls for assistance are due to respiratory distress and failure with about one third of the total for neonatal patients.
Team members like LaRusso ask detailed questions before one of the team's three emergency vehicles even leaves the hospital. “We try to determine how sick the child is by asking key questions such as, ‘How fast is the child breathing? What does he look like? What tests have been done?'” he says.
Once the team gets a better picture of the situation, they collaborate closely with doctors to find appropriate treatment for the child.
LaRusso says he enjoys following up with his colleagues and family members to see how a child has recovered after emergency transport. Throughout the years he's remained in contact with a number of the families of his patients. As the father of two daughters, LaRusso says it's easy for him to relate to what a parent of a sick or injured child is going through.
“We're meeting these families on what may be the worst days of their lives,” he says. “While providing care, we can look them in the eye and tell them that we'll do everything we can to help their child. That genuinely makes me feel good about what I do for Children's Memorial.”
Nursing and critical care medicine are supported by The Children's Service Board, Mr. and Mrs. John H. Krehbiel, Jr. and The Founders' Board, among others .