WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital Transport Team assures no child goes without the care they need

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WTRF) – West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and even Virginia – Children in all these states and more are able to receive the state-of-the-art care WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital provides because of their Transport Team.

They call it the “mobile ICU” because it has equipment to care for children who are just months old all the way to 18 years old.

The Transport Team will receive a call from hospitals across the region, and the team of nurses, registered respiratory therapists, and EMTs will fly or take an ambulance wherever help is needed to bring them back to WVU Medicine Children’s.

High quality equipment is what makes the transportation of patients possible, and part of the funds raised at the WVU Medicine Children’s Gala will support that.

”We see families on their best days and their worst days. Sometimes it’s all in the same day. It’s providing that extra support for the family, reassuring them that they are getting the best care possible, giving them that extra moment, providing extra education and extra information to the parent letting them know exactly where they are going to go and sometimes even getting that follow-up phone call once we arrive to say ‘Hey, we’ve made it here safely. This is what we are going to do.’”

Becca Tilley – Neonatal Critical Care Transport Nurse

”Honestly, it’s rewarding. It’s so nice to go in and just feel like you’re doing everything that you can to help them. Whenever they are scared and you talk them down and tell them everything is going to be okay and they look at you and they are like, “okay.” Then when we go to the place that we’re going to drop them off whether it’s the PICU or the NICU – especially in the PICU those kids, they hold onto you and they’re like “You just saved me. Thank you so much” – and now they are in a different place but you kind of reassure them again that everything is going to be okay.”

Danielle Benson – Neonatal Critical Care Pediatric Transport Respiratory Therapist

In 2023, the WVU Medicine Children’s Transport Team made 558 total transports.

58 of those were from the Ohio Valley.

The 18th Annual WVU Medicine Children’s Gala will be held on Saturday, August 3rd at Oglebay Park.

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