Written by Carla Yarrow, Lucy AAC Corporate Partnerships Manager.
As the newest recruit here at Lucy Air Ambulance for Children, I’d heard so much about our wonderful air transfers and the huge amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to make them happen. From the medics, pilots, ambulance crews, hospital staff… you name it… there’s a lot more than just a quick flight that goes in to a Lucy AAC transfer.
I was fortunate enough to be able to join a recent transfer of a gorgeous premature baby who needed to get from Edinburgh to Oxford to receive ongoing neonatal support closer to home. Our little patient was born at 24 weeks, weighing just 500g, while mum was taking one last holiday before her twins arrived. Sadly, her sister was born sleeping. Seven weeks later, and another 500g gained, this little fighter was finally able to travel the 370 miles home.
The day started at 10am at our base at Capital in Bristol Airport where I met up with our medical team and pilots. For a complex transfer such as this one, there was a lot of equipment required, including our specialist flight-ready incubator. The great thing about a Lucy AAC transfer is that we essentially have a portable neonatal intensive care unit wherever we go, allowing us to be prepared for every possible scenario. Once all medical and flight checks were complete, we were ready to go collect our little patient of the day from Royal Infirmary Edinburgh.
The hour and half flight between Bristol and Edinburgh flew by (pun intended) as Dr Lee and Nurse Rebecca explained about all the equipment on board and talked about their wonderful experiences on previous Lucy transfers. Hearing about some the children we’ve been able to help is always so heartwarming. I also got to see the view from the cockpit which is amazing – a big thanks to Captain Marc and First Officer Jake for the fabulous and hilarious demonstrations of all the dials (there’s a lot!!). Before I knew it, we were landing at Edinburgh Airport where the ground ambulance was ready to take us and our equipment to the hospital to finally bring baby home.
On arrival at Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, we headed up to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to meet baby, mum and the NICU team who had been looking after her since birth, for a medical handover. That’s one of the other great things about our transfers; because we bring our own medical teams and equipment, it means that no local staff are displaced or taken out of area for long road transfers. This is so important to us because it means local children aren’t impacted by displaced staff needing to travel. We also had our portable freezer ready to collect any stored breastmilk so that not a drop of mums hard work is wasted. After baby was transferred to our incubator, happy and ready to go, we were off to Edinburgh airport to fly to Oxford.
Loading back on to the plane is surprisingly quick and it wasn’t long before we were up in the air again. A quick flight of just 1h 15m, this 370 mile journey would have taken over 6 and a half hours by road. This just wouldn’t have been an option for our little patient and so being able to bring her and mum back home safely and quickly is the reason Lucy AAC exists. But what struck me most during this part of our transfer is how incredible the parents of our little patients are. After going through so many stressful moments already in the previous weeks, far away from home and loved ones for so long, it can be a lot of mixed emotions for our parents; a combination of transfer nerves and relief to finally be heading home. Although our patient is the smallest one on board, we are also here for mum (or dad) and hope that in the days, weeks and months to come, they’ll look back on the day with joy. I felt very lucky to have been a part of such an important part of mum and baby’s journey.
On arrival in Oxford we learnt that our ambulance was stuck in A&E with their previous patient. Although this fortunately doesn’t happen often, it showed how complex a Lucy transfer is, with so many different pieces in a very large puzzle. But baby was snug in her incubator on the plane and it wasn’t long at all before the ambulance arrived and we were on our way to John Radcliffe Hospital for the final part of our little patient’s Lucy journey and the medical handover to the hospital’s NICU team who would be looking after her going forward.
With handovers complete, and mum and baby settled, it was time for me to head back home to London. Although it was a long day, it went by in a flash, and by the time I walked in the front door at 00:30 I was still flying high – I know, another pun – on adrenaline from everything I’d been lucky enough to witness. To say that I learnt a lot that day would be an understatement. The biggest lesson of all; knowing in theory what goes in to one of our transfers and actually seeing every tiny piece of the puzzle come together in person is very, very different!! I’m so proud of what we do here at Lucy Air Ambulance for Children and for me, now seeing our transfers in action, it’s even more crucial that we reach every child that needs our service. No child should be put at unnecessary risk. And every child deserves the right treatment, in the right place, at the right time.
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