5 Valuable Tips before Transporting Senior Medical Patients
Posted on November 23, 2017
Aging loved ones, be it your parents or your grandparents, can find mobility quite challenging with passing time. Unable to move as freely as they used to, most of them are unable to drive cars around for running day to day errands and even require assistance during short distance travels. So what do you do when they fall ill or meet an accident which renders then incapable of travelling and the senior care facilities that can cater to them are located at a longer distance?
You find the senior medical patients an accredited and trusted air medical transport provider who can safely move them from their current location to a specialized medical facility, of course!
Best Ways to Handle Senior Medical Patients on an Air Medical Transport
Transporting senior medical patients requires a lot more patience and care as opposed to other patients which is why the medical crew and flight staff is required to spend more time on pre-flight preparations. To ensure the senior medical patient’s comfort, the air medical transport company must provide both, air and ground assets, for transporting them to senior care facilities anywhere in the world. At AirMed International, we have an experienced team of medical professionals who have years of experience and expertise in providing critical medical care for senior medical patients. As a leading air medical transport provider, we are accredited by CAMTS and have been offering senior medical patients safe and trusted air medical transport services along with bedside-to-bedside services over two decades.
Here are five things you should know about transporting senior medical patients through air medical transport:
1. Provide Patient’s Medical Details
Air medical transfers are not something that happen frequently and they can be quite a nerve-wracking experience, especially for the senior medical patients. This is why it is imperative that the patients or their caretakers provide complete knowledge of the patient including their medical condition, current location, insurance coverage (if any) and details of the family member who will accompany the patient on flight. This information will enable the air medical transport provider to make pre-flight preparations accordingly.
2. Cater to Mobility Complications
One of the most common problem senior medical patients have is mobility issues which can arise due to old age as well as complications from spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and osteoporosis. The air medical transport provider you hire should have no issues going the extra mile by providing additional comfort and care in the form of extra padded mattresses and bundling for the senior medical patients while offering the ‘transfer with max assist’ approach to transfer them comfortably. At AirMed International, we take great pride in our unparalleled air medical services and offer continued patient care with our bedside-to-bedside service and commercial medical escorts to ensure that our senior medical patients have the required professional assistance before, during and after their flight until they reach their destination.
3. Manage Multiple Medical Issues
Senior medical patients often suffer from multiple medical issues. Some suffer from breathing problems while others might have diabetes, dementia or anxiety, high blood pressure and arthritis etc. Understanding the patient's current medical condition and all their ailments is crucial to pre-flight planning. All medical problems of senior medical patients must be coordinated to the air medical transport provider so they can organize the flight according to the patient’s requirements, have mission essential equipment and necessary medicine available in the jets in case any in-flight treatment is required.
4. Keep them Well Hydrated
Senior medical patients often forget to drink enough water and keep themselves hydrated which causes serious health concerns like urinary tract infections. If a senior medical patient suffers from such an issue then the patient’s caretaker must inform the air medical transport provider so that the in-flight nurses and paramedics can ensure that they stay well-hydrated throughout their flight and induce water or saline IV if necessary.
5. In-Flight Critical Medical Care
Some air medical transport companies only have nurses or flight paramedics and EMTs but at AirMed, we have an accredited medical crew onboard alongside the flight crew. Depending on the senior medical patient’s requirements, we offer multiple levels of critical medical care and various levels of air medical transport staff which includes flight paramedics, trained physicians, respiratory therapist, registered nurses and ICU-trained nurses who have extensive training and years of experience.
Rivaled Senior Medical Patient Care by the World’s Leading Air Medical Transport Provider
As an award winning air medical transport provider, at AirMed, we have been delivering successfully on our mission of an uncompromised standard of medical and critical patient care for over 25 years. We are fully accredited by CAMTS and bear certifications from EURAMI, FAA, NAACS and the United States Department of Defense Air Transport Program. When you choose us as your air medical transport provider, we ensure that senior medical patients receive unparalleled air medical transport services 24/7/365.