Aid for sick babies

Press, 17 June 1982, Page 17

Aid for sick babies

Recent engineering innovations have made available to Christchurch incubators which are fully adapted for use in commercial air transport.

Since 1970, Air New Zealand has given hospital boards use of its own incubator converted for aircraft use, and during this time has added to it oxygen monitoring equipment to regulate the flow of oxygen to the infant. This incubator, however, was not designed for intensive care, and has inadequate access for intensive care procedures. The North Canterbury Hospital Board transport incubators are designed for 12-volt battery operation or AC mains supply, and so are suitable for use only in small unpressurised aircraft running off their own batteries. This means the environment is less likely to be warm and stable in flight, that ventilation involves much more guesswork, and that the total time is longer. Attending staff are also likely to need added oxygen by mask in mountainous areas.

Now, an Air New Zealand engineer, Graham Evans, and the North Canterbury Hospital Board engineers, Tony Blackier and Bruce Lili, have found a way of converting the transport incubators and their fittings to the two different standard commercial aircraft voltages. By just changing power cords the incubator now automatically plugs into and works in DCIO, Boeing 727, 737, 747 aircraft, and, with a simple voltage adaptor, in Friendship, Andover and Safe Air Argosy aircraft. The incubator and its neo-natal ventilating unit are strapped on adjacent seats, using an extension seat strap for the incubator and a standard aircraft seatbelt for the ventilating unit. Rosemary Johnson, a pediatrician in the neo-natal

unit of Christchurch Women’s Hospital, explains the advantages. “The baby is kept warm, it is easier to administer the right level of oxvgen as only the pressures at ground level and 7000'feet are required, and the flying time may be reduced bv up to 80 per cent. "Several times a year we transport sick babies from Christchurch to Green Lane Hospital. Auckland, on intensive care for evaluation and treatment of severe cyanotic heart disease. The baby can now be taken in 3 3 '4 hours compared with the 12-volt unpressurised aircraft 12 to 18 hour trip, with refuelling and a probable overnight stop. "Also, the larger Air New Zealand aircraft are much less likely to be grounded in bad weather than the smaller aircraft, giving a more reliable service.” She adds that it is also very cost effective. In the intensive care situation, the cost is barely one-tenth of the cost of an Air Ambulance, and, using an Air Ambulance, .there would be the additional cost of the mother travelling by Air New Zealand on most occasions. "The simplicity of the innovations is their great strength. All that is needed to use the standard transport incubator for flight, is one small bag containing the appropriate aircraft power cord and extension seat straps for the incubator,” she says. By DENTS DWYER, information officer, North Canterbury Hospital Board