NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Monroe Carell Junior Children’s Hospital has introduced a first-of-its-kind ambulance here in the state. They're calling it Angel 7. It was added to better serve Tennessee families.
It's the sixth ambulance in the hospital's fleet, but is the first to offer ECMO transport. The addition means Vanderbilt is now the first pediatric transport team in the state to offer this specialized ground transport for its patients.
ECMO is a form of life support that does the work of the heart and lungs while giving the body time to rest and recover. Adding Angel 7 to the fleet supports the hospital's growing Neonatal and Pediatric Transport team and allows them to deliver a high level of care to patients sooner and throughout transport.
It has the ability to safely transport any age patient, especially critical patients and can also be utilized for critical care patient transfers. The care team will consist of two ECMO specialists, a transport nurse, transport respiratory therapist, an advanced EMT and a physician.
"We use all of these ambulances to travel all across the state of Tennessee. We go into Kentucky, to Alabama," said Lauren Kinsall with Vanderbilt Children's Pediatric Transport. We've gone as far as Cincinnati, Ohio sometimes to bring patients back to the Children's Hospital that are in critical need of our services."
Employees got to tour the new truck on Tuesday as part of EMS Week.
