Zincwarrior
Diamond Member
Too much bad crap going on. Here's a positive story. Following on a program started in Houston, Austin is getting a specialized ambulance helicopter focused on child patients. It will be have a service range in both Central and West Texas areas.
New Kangaroo Crew ‘hopping’ Austin area pediatric patients to Texas Children’s with new helicopter
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new, pediatric medical helicopter and its crew launched in Central Texas this week, aimed at saving critical minutes for children during an emergency.
On Monday, Texas Children’s unveiled the aircraft, alongside a specialized team ready to provide pediatric and neonatal transport services to Austin and its surrounding areas, known as the “Kangaroo Crew.”
“It’s like a moving ICU,” said Dr. Jeffrey Shilt, Texas Children’s President of Austin and Central Texas at the helicopter’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
He noted Texas Children’s is the first pediatric hospital system to operate its own helicopter in Austin. The aircraft can “hop” patients distances of up to 120 nautical miles, eliminating traffic delays or closing the distance for patients in rural regions in need of care.
“The ability to get to those patients when it really matters — those critical minutes are really necessary,” said Dr. Shilt.
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Texas Children’s said it saw success with the first helicopter it launched in Houston in February 2025. According to the hospital system, that crew has already carried hundreds of seriously ill patients by air to one of the system’s four campuses across Texas.
Sophie Nash Culver, a registered nurse and the education coordinator for the Kangaroo Crew, said being on this specialized team is a dream-come-true, after being a patient at Texas Children’s Hospital as a child. She described how the aircraft is outfitted to care for even the smallest patients.
“We are actually starting the care when we get there,” she said. “We have the smallest tube sizes — the breathing tubes that help children breathe. We have a ventilator that has these modes that are soft on those baby lungs, so they don’t have lung problems when they grow up. The clinicians are trained to deliver the medications and the care based on the size of the patient because in adults, you are all an adult — you get the same everything. But in kids, every little change makes a huge difference in the care that you give.”
