Emergency Organ Transport Services – Facts, myths and things to know!

by admin on December 5, 2012

If you or your loved one is on the organ donor recipient list, you never know when you’ll get “the call” or where your donation will be coming from. Having pre-made plans with an air ambulance company means that everything will fall into place as efficiently as possible, no matter where you live.

Most people think of air ambulance service providers as those who have to handle picking and moving critically ill or injured patient from one point to another. It happens every day, all around the world – a patient who has just gotten critically sick or injured needs access to transportation that can get them from point A to point B as quickly as possible.

Air Ambulance Organ Transport
That said, flights that transport body organs are very important in the preservation of life. Including the lives of those who require emergency organ transport. The life will only be saved if the process is performed on time and in the most particular manner. For organs, air ambulance
transport is a safe, efficient, and predictable resource.

You may recall a situation that occurred in 2010, where an air ambulance pilot and the EMS workers moved into a flaming jet that had crashed just to cut the fuel source to save a liver…which in the end was not damaged! These are true heroes all in their own unique class.

Do I Have to Use an Aircraft for Organ Transport?
Shipments of a medical nature do not always have to be transported by air ambulance teams. There are other courier services that offer such transport services. An example would include Dallas based STAT Courier Services, who are often given contracts to move medical shipments such as blood banks, pharmacies, labs, and so on and so on.

The case for whether or not organ transportation should be done via air is therefore a valid one. Here are a few things to consider:
● There is always a patient somewhere within the United States of America who is in dire need of an organ.
● Every time a matching donor is found and they donate their organ, it is of paramount importance that the donated organ is transported as fast as possible to the recipient of the same.
● If you are medical practitioner (and chances are high that you are if you are reading this piece) you already have the knowledge that newly donated organs can only be healthy for a really short duration.

Regarding “Local” Transportation
Statistics on organdonor.gov show that 75% of organs are transported to a local patient as soon as they are donated. In this case, “local” in line with transportation can mean different things. If you need to move something from either end of Austin via road starting at 8 A.M, you can see clearly why it makes more sense to use air transportation services that take a matter of minutes as opposed to an hour in a traffic jam.

Using an aircraft as the ideal means of organ transport can make all the difference when it comes to saving a life. This service is therefore very ideal even in the case of “local transportation”.

Who is Performing the Transport Service?
The people designated to offer air medical services usually liaise with other medical facilities to move delicate and sensitive organs from the point where the organ was donated to the facility where the transplant will be conducted (and this may be quite a long distance from the home of the patient).

The same care and caution is used when transporting an organ as that accorded to a living patient who has to be moved to a medical facility to get specialized medical help. The very able and fully qualified air medical staff and the specialized medical equipment will all be used to move the organ from point A to B ensuring that it arrives to its destination healthy and undamaged.

To learn more about the organ transport services at Air Ambulance 1 click here.