I was negative one day old when I first flew on an air ambulance. It was a rainy morning in Stuart, Florida on May 15, 1983, when my parents woke up to find that my mother was in labor. Exciting as that may sound for a 22-year-old mom-to-be, it was eight weeks before her due date of July 7, and being premature was more serious in 1983 than it is today in 2020.
Once they arrived at the local hospital, they were informed that they did not have the necessary equipment to handle such a premature baby and that they would have to transport her to another facility. The hospital put calls in to Miami, West Palm Beach, Tampa and Orlando. And of course, the hospital who had a room available was the third longest in distance to get to – Orlando.
The doctors informed my parents that they had two options, take a ground ambulance, which would take more than 2 hours, or a Learjet air ambulance, which would take 25 minutes. There were significant cost differences between the two and my father was, and is, a frugal man. But once the doctor told him that if anything were to happen while in route to the hospital, they would not have the necessary equipment in the ground ambulance, the decision was easily made to take the air ambulance and get mom and baby to much needed support as soon as possible. I would like to think $2,500 ($900 out of pocket after insurance), even in 1983, was well worth the precautions taken.
My mother says the transport team whisked her away into the ambulance. She says that her head was near the pilot’s seat and her feet were near the end of the plane with not much more room for anything else. She said it all happened so quickly but that the flight was very smooth, and above all else – fast.
She arrived at the Orlando Regional Medical Center soon after, with my father lagging behind two hours later, traveling via car, alone. I was born the next morning at 10:14 a.m. by a doctor with a French accent and a large group of nurses all there to help make sure mom and baby were taken care of. My mom wasn’t able to physically get up to see me until a day later and we both had some medical hurdles to overcome in the next few days and weeks. I had to stay at the hospital in the NICU for a month while my parents had to drive back and forth as much as possible to visit before taking me home.
My mother loves to tell the story of how I was born and as a mother now myself I totally understand wanting to re-live the experience of having your baby, even if both of our children came into this world a little emergent. I, too, almost had a preemie, 10 weeks early, and was also informed that my hospital was not equipped to handle that early of a preemie and would have to take an ambulance. The hospital they spoke of was an hour away, but we never discussed ground versus air transport as my son decided to hold off on joining this world until his intended date after all.
I am so very grateful for air ambulances and for the hard work put into maintaining these aircraft who help people survive all over the world. Even the littlest of flyers. Check out our story on air ambulance maintenance on page 40.
