Teddy Bear Transport Flying High With New Base
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - It is one of the busiest pediatric transport programs in the nation. Every year, Cook Children's Medical Center's Teddy Bear Transport picks up more than 2,200 kids, many in need of critical care, and now doing so will be quicker and easier.
As a pediatric nurse for Teddy Bear Transport, Kimberly Bobbitt knows when she is called it means a child is in serious need of medical attention.
"We'll go to other facilities make sure the patient is stabilized and bring them back to Cook's for specialized care," Bobbitt said, "We transport from different facilities around Texas, Oklahoma, we've gone as far as Pittsburgh and overseas if need be."
Two and a half years ago, Bobbitt found herself on the other side of the emergency.
"My oldest son was three at the time, and was in a boat down in Seguin and a drunk boater hit the boat he was in," she explained, "and fractured his skull in multiple places, and he had a bilateral jaw fracture and a very large cut across his head."
Her son, Cooper, now a healthy 6-year-old boy, was flown to Cook Children's Medical Center from a San Antonio hospital by the very people Bobbitt worked alongside every day.
"When our team walked in and I saw their blue uniforms, it was just a sense of relief, and knowing the compassion and care that this team provides I knew he could not be in better hands." The mother of three said, "I knew he was in safe hands and I knew he was in god's hands and that he would be okay."
The program that helped Cooper will be able to help other families even faster.
The Teddy Bear Transport has its own airplane, helicopter, ambulance and medical team, and now the entire fleet and team are housed in one location at Meacham Airport in Fort Worth.
"Before this facility we were spread out lots of different places." Said Program Director Jack Sosebee. "We had medical crews at the hospital, our helicopter was at the hospital, the airplane was actually at Spink's Airport in Burleson. When we got a call to go somewhere in the airplane we had to actually round up the crew and drive out to the airport, which could be 20, 30, 40 minutes."
Having all the equipment and staff in one place will dramatically cut response times, Sosebee said.
"Having everything in one location so we don't have to move the medical crews around, it speeds up the time for us to get out the door and get on the way to pick up a patient from another facility to bring them back." He said.
The grand opening for the new facility was held Thursday morning.
Cook Children's recently received the Neonatal & Pediatric Transport Award of Excellence.
