The sky’s the limit: Mary Bridge Children’s partnership with Airlift Northwest

As the only state-designated Level II Pediatric Trauma Center in Western Washington, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital treats thousands of trauma patients in its emergency department and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) every year. And thanks to our partnership with Airlift Northwest, access to care extends far beyond the South Sound region, sometimes even past state borders.

In October 2020, Mary Bridge Children’s selected Airlift Northwest as its preferred air transport provider. “Airlift Northwest is an amazing partner and is instrumental in our ability to provide care for children across the region who need it most,” says Tami Best-Brandt, RN, MSN, nurse manager of Mary Bridge Children’s PICU and pediatric transport team. “Thanks to Airlift Northwest, trauma patients who need immediate care can be at Mary Bridge in less than half the time it’d take with ground transportation.”

We caught up with Steve LeMay, director of business development and outreach at Airlift Northwest, about the benefits of working together to serve the medical needs of children in our region.

How does the partnership work?

“We work closely with the Mary Bridge team to transport children of all ages, from all areas of Washington state and beyond, to Tacoma for care,” LeMay says.

When patients at other facilities are too unstable for ground transportation or require a greater level of specialty care, that hospital contacts the Mary Bridge Children’s Transfer Center. After confirming care and transportation needs, Mary Bridge Children’s coordinates with Airlift Northwest’s command center to activate a flight. Airlift Northwest operates both fixed-wing (airplane) and rotary-wing (helicopter) aircraft.

Within minutes, the Airlift Northwest team lands at the MultiCare Tacoma General/Mary Bridge Children’s helipad to pick up a team of pediatric transport nurses. Together the crew flies to the referring hospital, picks up the patient and returns to Mary Bridge Children’s.

Airlift Northwest provides the aircraft, a pilot and a safety officer for every flight. Mary Bridge Children’s provides a specialized medical team that can stabilize and care for the patient midair.

Mary Bridge Children’s transport team loads a patient into Airlift Northwest’s fixed-wing plane.

How many children has Airlift Northwest flown to Mary Bridge Children’s? What’s the farthest transport to date?

To date, Airlift Northwest has fulfilled more than 50 flights to Mary Bridge Children’s — a high volume for pediatrics, according to LeMay. “That’s not counting referrals we couldn’t fulfill or calls from emergency response teams that send us directly to accidents,” he says.

“We transported a patient in our rotary-wing from as far as Sunnyside,” says LeMay. Sunnyside is a small city in Yakima County, Washington, more than 200 miles southeast of Tacoma. “Our fixed-wing can provide airlifts all the way up in Alaska.”

For fixed-wing flights, Airlift Northwest lands at Tacoma Narrows Airport, or occasionally Boeing Field in Seattle, and patients are then brought by ambulance to Mary Bridge Children’s.

How has it been to work with Mary Bridge Children’s?

“Outstanding,” LeMay says. “Everyone from the nurses in the transfer center, to the transport teams that fly with us, are great partners. Additionally, we receive incredible feedback from our referring hospitals about their experiences transferring patients to Mary Bridge Children’s.”

Airlift Northwest is not only a valuable care partner for Mary Bridge Children’s, but also a generous supporter of Mary Bridge Children’s Foundation.

As a sponsor of the annual Festival of Trees, Airlift Northwest donates ride-along packages that give auction winners the chance to experience firsthand what goes into a medical air transport.

This year, Airlift Northwest is celebrating four decades of providing critical care air ambulance services in Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. For more information, visit Airlift Northwest.

Mary Bridge Children’s transport team loads a neonatal patient into Airlift Northwest’s helicopter.