With sleek new kids-only helicopter, Children’s Hospital and Flight For Life are transforming Colorado air transport
When newborn Aiden Castillo began suffering from a condition that cut off oxygen to his brain, help arrived from above, racing state-of-the-art medical equipment to him at McKee Medical Center in Loveland at speeds of up to 140 mph.
Lifeguard 6, Flight for Life Colorado’s newest helicopter, darted through the sky to pick up the baby, transporting him to Children’s Hospital Colorado in a mobile neonatal intensive care unit outfitted with equipment to cool his head and prevent him from suffering severe developmental delays.
Before Lifeguard 6, the transfer would have taken longer in a smaller helicopter not equipped with complex, kid-specific medical treatments and medicines. What’s carried aboard the new aircraft, including the medical team, is like bringing Children’s Hospital right to the patient, say hospital and Flight for Life officials.
They hope it will help transform the way sophisticated health care reaches rural corners of Colorado and beyond, where complex pediatric and neonatal intensive care is scarce.
Read the full story at The Denver Post.
Flight for Life pilot Cpt. Satoshi Mori exits the brand new Children’s Hospital Flight for Life H130 T2 helicopter after landing on the Children’s Hospital helipad May 5, 2017 in Aurora. The new helicopter has been configured to meet the needs tiniest of patients which features more interior space for an isolette and other essential equipment for newborn and pediatric transport. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
The brand new Children’s Hospital Flight for Life H130 T2 helicopter above the Children’s Hospital helipad May 5, 2017 in Aurora. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Tail rotor on the brand new Children’s Hospital Flight for Life H130 T2 helicopter on the Children’s Hospital helipad May 5, 2017 in Aurora. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Flight for Life pilot Cpt. Satoshi Mori exits the brand new Children’s Hospital Flight for Life H130 T2 helicopter after landing on the Children’s Hospital helipad May 5, 2017 in Aurora. The new helicopter has been configured to meet the needs tiniest of patients which features more interior space for an isolette and other essential equipment for newborn and pediatric transport. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)