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Children’s Hospital marks 35th anniversary of transport service COLUMBIA, Mo. — University of Missouri Health Care will celebrate the 35th anniversary of Children’s Hospital’s transport service at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, with a reception at Columbia Regional Hospital’s Health Pavilion conference center at 404 Keene St. In July 1973, Elizabeth James, M.D., a neonatologist at University Hospital, acquired specialized equipment and helped initiate a new program to transport premature and critically ill infants from health facilities throughout mid-Missouri to the Columbia facility. Neonatology was in the process of becoming a recognized subspecialty when James joined University Hospital in 1971. She became the first neonatologist on staff and was instrumental in the development of the neonatal intensive care unit that same year. But James realized that outcomes would improve even more if neonatal patients could be monitored and cared for in-route from other health facilities as they were being transported to University Hospital. “We were getting critically ill newborn infants who had been brought to us by local ambulance services who had no idea what the patient’s needs were for stabilization and transport,” said James. “Things got better after we provided educational outreach for referring hospitals on how to stabilize the neonate while they called us and we came for the baby.” As a result, James and some of her colleagues decided to form a dedicated neonatal transport team. One of her first challenges was to find equipment small enough to fit the special needs of her tiny patients. “We didn’t have any specialized equipment at first because it just wasn’t on the market, and neonatology was so new,” said James. “We had to adapt equipment that was made to care for critically ill adults, which certainly presented challenges to what we were trying to do for our premature and sick infants. Despite those challenges, we did have a lot of success in caring for our tiny patients.” With a dedicated team in place and the acquisition of specialized equipment, the health system continued to rely on the use of adult transportation vehicles until the late1990s. In 1993, Children’s Hospital was established as a hospital within a hospital at University Hospital, signaling change for the transport service. Some of those changes included the expansion of services in 1997 to include children up to the age of 18. Then in 1999, Columbia Regional Hospital merged with University Hospital, Ellis Fischel Cancer Center and Children’s Hospital to form University of Missouri Health Care. Three years later, in 2000, a generous donation by Nancy and William Laurie of Columbia, Mo., allowed Children’s Hospital to purchase a special transport ambulance designed for neonates and children. And in 2003, birthing services, along with the newborn intensive care unit, moved from University Hospital to Columbia Regional Hospital where the transport service is stationed as well. “This new ambulance provided a platform for our transport team to offer additional specialized care for young patients,” said John Pardalos, M.D., a neonatologist at University of Missouri Health Care and director of the transport service. “The new vehicle allowed Children's Hospital to travel greater distances in order to better serve the children of Missouri.” Special features of the Children’s Hospital ambulance includes ventilators for babies and older children, cardiac monitoring equipment, intravenous pumps, mobile isolettes for infant transportation, pediatric stretchers and enough seating to allow parents to accompany their child in-route. In addition, the ambulance features kid-friendly décor, a television and a DVD player. “Since then, the service has acquired an additional ambulance and utilizes the helicopter based at University Hospital when the need to expedite transportation of an unstable patient is critical,” said Judy Bildner, R.N., MC-CNS, an advanced practice nurse at Columbia Regional Hospital’s newborn intensive care unit and coordinator of the transport service. “Our 26-member transport team is highly skilled in perinatal, neonatal and pediatric transportation. The team is comprised of registered nurses, respiratory therapists and emergency medical technicians, and operates under the direction of neonatal and pediatric physicians.” Looking back at all the challenges that she faced in 1973 such as acquiring proper equipment, funding, the acquisition of a dedicated vehicle and educational outreach to rural health facilities, James is very pleased with today’s service. “It’s a great service,” exclaimed James. “It provides a rapid response time and safe, efficient transport of both neonates and older children. The people who direct the team and those who are a part of the team are first-class. They give the highest quality of patient care and are responsible for the survival of many children in Missouri.” Specialty services provided by Children’s Hospital include central Missouri’s only neonatal/pediatric transport team, child life therapy, a children’s sleep lab, pediatric radiology, pediatric ophthalmology, pediatric plastic surgery, a clinic for children with fetal alcohol syndrome, a kidney transplant and dialysis program, pediatric orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine, pediatric general surgery, pediatric otolaryngology and a medical genetics and perinatology program. NOTE TO REPORTERS AND EDITORS: To download a high-resolution photograph of Elizabeth James please visit http://www.muhealth.org/news/images/08DrJames.jpg. To download a high-resolution photograph of John Pardalos please visit http://www.muhealth.org/news/images/08Pardalos.jpg. To download a high-resolution photograph of Judy Bildner please visit http://www.muhealth.org/news/images/08Bildner.jpg. 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