Types of Air Ambulance Missions
Neonatal Transfers
A premature baby can weigh less than 1kg (the normal birth weight for a
full-term baby is 3.5kg). Their tiny heart and lungs can struggle to
survive and thrive. Fortunately Life Flight’s air ambulances and
Westpac Rescue Helicopter can be equipped with a number of special baby incubators that help keep them safe during their critical
journeys. Find more information on the incubators here.
When Life Flight
NZ transports a 'neonate patient', we carry a doctor and a specially trained
flight nurse. Premature babies stay at a specialist hospital, such as Wellington Hospital or Starship Children's Health at Auckland
District Health Board. In 2007, 292 babies were flown by Life Flight.
Baby Nadia had a birth weight of only 965 grams – read Nadia’s story here.
Other Inter-Hospital Patient Transfers
Many patients need medical care or equipment at a hospital outside their local areas. The Life Flight NZ Air Ambulance service flies them there and provides specialist aviation care during the journey. 908 patients needed this service in 2007.Transit care or intensive care nurses with specialist flight nurse training staff the flights. Critically ill patients are flown under the care of a flight doctor and flight nurse skilled in intensive care medicine.
Patients flown can have a wide variety of medical conditions, including cardiac or neurological problems or serious injuries such as spinal damage or severe burns. Life Flight has also completed full ECMO transfers, a complex procedure where machines take over a patient’s heart and lung functions to improve survival and recovery chances dramatically.
Organ or Medical Team Transfers
The air ambulances also fly surgeons between hospitals in emergencies and transport blood or organs if urgently required. Opportunities to harvest organs and transport them to the appropriate hospitals for transplants, as well as coordination of air and ground resources are all vital for this part of the operation.
