Cincinnati Children's to Introduce Helicopter Service for Ill Children

Each year, children and their families travel from across the United States to receive care at Cincinnati Children's. For some of the most seriously ill patients, timely transport by air is essential to reach the hospitals helipads, located downtown and at the Liberty campus in Butler County.

The demand for rapid air transport of children facing life-threatening conditions has been rising steadily, according to Kelly Besl, clinical director of the hospitals critical care transport team. To address this growing need, Cincinnati Children's will introduce a dedicated medical helicopter service beginning in February, in collaboration with Air Methods, a Denver-based medical aviation company.

Unlike emergency response helicopters, this service will focus solely on transporting critically ill pediatric patients from Ohio and neighboring states, reducing travel times where every minute counts.

A specialized helicopter service will allow us to transfer hundreds of neonatal and pediatric patients more safely and efficiently, said Rich Falcone, pediatric surgeon and chief of staff at Cincinnati Children's. Travel time from distant regions will be cut by half or more with this new resource.

The helicopter will carry a pilot from Air Methods, along with a critical care nurse and a respiratory therapist from Cincinnati Children's. It will have a roundtrip range of approximately 300 miles from the hospital's Burnet campus, covering distances similar to Cincinnati to Chicago.

The aircraft will feature Cincinnati Children's branding, and the hospital is inviting the public to participate in a naming contest. Eligible participants include legal residents of Ohio, Indiana, or Kentucky who are 17 years old or younger as of January. The contest closes on January 4.

Author: Maya Henderson