Game-Changing Ventilators

A recent acquisition of new ventilators for Enloe FlightCare helicopters has empowered caregivers to save more lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

From memory, Jenny Humphries can’t quite quantify just how many COVID-19 patients have been transported via Enloe FlightCare since the start of the pandemic. But she knows the number is staggering.

Humphries, Enloe’s Chief Flight Nurse, also knows that two new ventilators purchased just before the pandemic began have been vital to her crew’s ability to care for these patients. In early 2020, the Enloe Foundation contributed $68,328 to purchase new critical care transport ventilators to contribute to the safe transport of some of the most critical patients they transport. And, this year, the Enloe Foundation Board of Directors also approved spending $152,351 to purchase an artificial heart/lung machine that facilitates safe transport for patients who need a higher level of care.

It was impossible to know at the time, but these state-of-the-art transport ventilators would be essential to the transport of patients with COVID-19. We spoke with Humphries about the addition of the ventilators and what they’ve meant for the care the FlightCare crew has been able to provide.

Q: In plain terms, what exactly is a ventilator?
A: The simplest way you can put it is that ventilators are what most people consider to be life support. It’s a machine that breathes for people when they can no longer do so on their own. Our new ventilators also have non-invasive capabilities that allow us to support patients without the use of a breathing tube in the trachea (windpipe). It’s a way for us to have less invasive, but equally supportive care.

Q: Historically, there’s been a difference between the capabilities of ventilators used in medical settings and their transport counterparts. Do these new ventilators change that?
A: With the Hamilton T1 ventilator, they took all the functions of an ICU vent and created a critical care transport platform that’s approved for use within the flight/transport environment. Now, we can do anything that the ICU would have done with our Hamilton, and that’s made all the difference.

It really is the gold standard for a critical care transport ventilator. Hamilton created a software-based ventilator, so we can expect to be able to update them accordingly to continue to meet the needs of our patients. It changes the way we can give critical care in the transport environment.

Q: These new ventilators arrived in February 2020, just before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. How have they affected the way you’ve cared for COVID patients?
A: They’ve been extremely important as we’ve learned about this disease and how it affects patients. COVID has really demanded specific treatment and management that we haven’t seen before. These ventilators allow us better flexibility to meet the needs of patients — they’ve allowed us options that we previously wouldn’t have had in the care of these patients.

The non-invasive functionality of these ventilators has also been so important. We’ve been able to keep patients from getting intubated by having access to the same functionalities as a traditional non-invasive BiPap. We have learned as the pandemic has progressed that patients that are able to avoid intubation tend to do better.

Q: How have these new ventilators impacted the FlightCare team?
A: The timing of us receiving the ventilators just before the start of the pandemic really was a huge advantage. It left us with so many more options when it comes to the management of patients.

It’s not completely ventilator-related, but the support that our program gets from the community and from the Enloe Foundation is key for us to do what we do best. We’re a flight crew of 20 people (pilots, mechanics, flight paramedics and flight nurses).

We appreciate daily what the community and the Foundation have done for the program. From the purchase of our helicopter to these new ventilators and ECMO, we are given access to some of the best equipment — both aviation and medical — that the industry has to offer. This support allows us to do our best work. We appreciate that and are forever grateful.