Cook Children's Transport Services

Transporting precious pediatric and neonatal patients takes specialized training and expertise. As one of the largest, and most experienced transport programs in the nation, Cook Children's transport team is dedicated to getting the most medically fragile children and neonates to our award-winning medical center quickly and safely. When you have a patient that needs immediate transport and/or stabilization, just make the call and we're on our way.

The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems will conduct an accreditation site visit of Cook Children’s Teddy Bear Transport, June 20-21, 2024.

The purpose of the site visit will be to evaluate the program's compliance with nationally established medical transport standards. The site visit results will be used to determine whether, and the conditions under which accreditation should be awarded to the program.

CAMTS accreditation standards deal with issues of patient care and safety of the transport environment. Anyone believing that he or she has pertinent or valid information about such matters may request a public information interview with the CAMTS site surveyors at the time of the site visit. Information presented at the interview will be carefully evaluated for relevance to the accreditation process. Requests for public information interviews must be made in writing and sent to CAMTS no later than 10 business days before the site survey begins. The request should also indicate the nature of the information to be provided during the interview. Such request should be addressed to:

Office of the Executive Director
Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems
PO Box 130
Sandy Springs, SC 29677

The Commission will acknowledge such written requests in writing or by telephone and will inform the program of the request for an interview. The Commission will, in turn, notify the interviewee of the date, time and place of the meeting.

This notice is posted in accordance with CAMTS requirements and shall not be removed until the site visit is completed.

Date Posted: 5/6/2024

Always ready. Always on call.

From fragile newborns, to critically ill babies, kids and teens, when your patient needs us, Cook Children's Teddy Bear Transport team is ready to go. From ground to air, across North America and parts of Central America, we'll be there, and get them here with expert care.

Neonatal/Pediatric critical care experts

Cook Children's Transport staff of 58 neonatal/pediatric nurses, respiratory therapists and paramedics are adept at stabilization, resuscitation and transfer of critically ill patients ranging from preterm infants to young adults. All through the patient's transport we are in constant communication with receiving care center, including our Level IV Neonatal ICU, Cardiac ICU, Medical/Surgical ICU, Emergency Department and more. Upon arrival, every team is waiting and ready to begin continued transfer of care.

Our team proudly provides:

State-of-the-art communication and dispatch center to manage and monitor all transports.
The first pediatric/neonatal transport team in Texas to utilize high-frequency ventilation in an air medical helicopter. The high-frequency ventilator is now a standard fixture in all isolettes, offering conventional or high-frequency ventilation on every neonatal transport.
Nitric oxide, standard on isolettes and available on every neonatal transport.
Team who can travel to high-risk deliveries to ensure a rapid handoff so baby receives the best care as quickly as possible.
Hospital-based program to help achieve quality, safety and access to board certified physicians.
Patient representatives, who collaborate with the referring physician to choose the most appropriate mode of transportation.
A fully equipped fleet with all necessary supplies, including satellite phones to ensure constant communication.
The ability to provide noninvasive ventilation for all patients.
Active cooling in transport.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

Transport Communication and Dispatch Center

The Transport Communication and Dispatch Center at Cook Children's is staffed by communication specialists 24 hours a day. These highly skilled specialists handle over 100,000 referral calls each year. We are able to manage and monitor multiple transports at one time, tracking every patient, regardless of whether they're arriving by car, ground or air from around the block to across the country and beyond our borders.

The roles and responsibilities of our communication specialists include:

Coordinating physician consults
Initiating non-emergent and emergent transfers
Arranging transport crew for Fixed-Wing Transports
Posting department billing charges after each transport

Transport services

Specialized neonatal and pediatric critical care teams

Cook Children's Teddy Bear Transport staff of nearly 60 neonatal/pediatric nurses, respiratory therapists and paramedics all proud to have long dedicated years of transport experience. This team is commited to getting the most medically fragile children and neonates to our award-winning medical center quickly and safely.
Our level IV NICU is staffed with a team of neonatologists and specialists who combine expertise with the latest technology to provide the highest level of neonatal care available.
Cook Children's designated level II Trauma Center is staffed and equipped to provide comprehensive emergency medical services to patients suffering traumatic injuries 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Since nearly half of our trauma patients are referred from hospitals in west and north Texas, follow-up with the referring physician is very important and a routine part of the trauma care process.
Cook Children's emergency services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Cook Children's Medical Center cares for children with life-threatening illnesses or injuries. This includes treatment for illnesses such as multi-system trauma, respiratory distress/failure, infections and shock. The unit also cares for children recovering from procedures such as cardiothoracic surgeries, brain surgeries, kidney transplants and spinal surgeries.
Cook Children's world-renowned CICU pediatric cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons treat complex heart conditions in the tiniest patients all the way to young adults and even adults with congenital heart defects.

Emergency referrals

Prior to our team's arrival the normal referral process will be initiated. This system helps us save valuable time and get the proper care to your patient quicker. The nurse or physician may contact Cook Children's Medical Center via the Communications Center by calling a direct line at 1-800-KID-HURT.

Most ED patients can be accepted without talking to the emergency department physician at Cook Children's. Some of the patient types that require physician-to-physician contact include:

Active seizures
Altered mental status
Fever with a rash
Patients who have received more than one 20 ml/kg fluid bolus
Patients with severe respiratory distress
Dislocations, open fractures, or fractures/dislocations with neuro or vascular compromise, angulations > 30 degrees or displacement > 50%
Intubated trauma, intracranial bleed, GCS < 8, or multi-system trauma
Cardiac and hematology/oncology evaluated on case-by-case basis, age not a factor

Physician consults and referrals

Referring physicians may always request to speak with a Cook Children's physician if they desire. Please have the following information available when you call:

Is this an emergent or non-emergent call?
Is our team needed for transport?
What mode would you prefer (ground, helicopter, airplane -- as appropriate depending on patient condition and distance)? The Communications Center can provide estimated arrival times for the various modes.
Patient name, sex, age, DOB, weight, diagnosis and vital signs.
Respiratory, perfusion and neurological status as appropriate to patient diagnosis.
Treatment and/or interventions performed and/or planned (O2, IVs, meds, labs, etc).

You'll find strength in our numbers

Cook Children’s transport team is one of the busiest in the nation, serving, local, regional, nataional and neighboring countries to ensure children from micropreemies to young adults can have access to the care that meets their most criticial needs.

4100

Transports we perform annually. We're here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

24/7

Our transport dispatch center is staffed by communication specialists

10,000

The number of referral calls handled each year by our communication specialists

4

The times our nursing staff has achieved Magnet recognition.

Accreditation

All FAA Part 135 aviation services are provided by Metro Aviation Inc. in Shreveport, La., which maintains exclusive operational control over all aircraft.

The following information is provided in compliance with 49 USC Section 43202. The DOT Aviation Consumer Protection Division's contact information is as follows:

Aviation Consumer Protection Division, C-75

US Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE, Washington, DC 20590

202-366-2220 (TTY 202-366-0511), 1-866-TELL-FAA (1-866-835-5322)

transportation.gov/airconsumer/file-consumer-complaint