THE AMBULANCE PLANE.

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19457, 22 December 1934, Page 23 (Supplement)

THE AMBULANCE PLANE.

VALUE TO MEDICAL WORK. PATIENT’S 7000 MILES’ FLIGHT. In many cases recently conclusive evidence has been forthcoming of the value of aircraft from a medical point of view. The other day Imperial Airways were consulted by a physician, one of whose patients had just undergone a serious operation, and who was in an extremely weak condition. it had become urgently necessary, however, that this patient should if possible travel to Zurich, in Switzerland, to undergo a special course of treatment at a clinic there. In view of the patient’s condition a train and boat journey was out of the question, and the only chance lay in making the trip by air. In these circumstances it was arranged that tho forward saloon in one of the big fourengined air liners on the CroydonZurich service should be reserved lor the patient’s accommodation. A bed was arranged in this saloon in such a way that the patient, while lying on it, could obtain an excellent view outward through the windows of the air liner, and there was ample space in the saloon also for the doctor, a nurse and one of the relatives „f the patient. A motor ambulance from a West End nursing home was driven right up beside the air liner at Croydon, and the patient was conveyed immediately to the bed In the saloon. The flight began at 8 a.m. and by 2.15 p.m. the same afternoon Zurich was reached. The patient, who had suffered no ill-effects whatever from the aerial journey, was transferred at once to a waiting motor ambulance, and an hour later was under treatment in the Zurich clinic.

Another recent case wa"s that of a patient at Johannesburg, in South Africa, whose doctors wished him to go to London for a special form of treatment.- At the same time, owing to his condition, only the smallest amount of physical movement was desirable, and for this reason the doctors were doubtful about allowing him to travel by train to the coast and on by steamer to England. It was decided, therefore, that the patient should be transported to 'London by air. Chairs and tables were removed from the saloon of one of the air liners, and a specially arranged bed on which the patient could travel was substituted.. Arriving at the Johannesburg air port in an ambulance, he was carried at once into the air liner, and a doctor accompanied him on the whole of the flight through to London. On arrival at Croydon, after an air journey of 7000 mile?, this patient seemed actually, be.ttor. In health than when he had left Johannesburg, and It Is satisfactory, to» be able to record that the treatment he received in London had tho desired effect. Absence of Jolting. “ It is the absence of jolting and fatigue in air transport which has ■such valuable aspects from a medical point of view," explained an official of the Special-Charter Department of Imperial Airways, " and a case not long ago illustrated this particularly. The patient was suffering fi*om a grave spinal complaint, In which any sudden movement implied serious risk. Yet it was urgently necessary that a journey should be made to the continent for a course of treatment by a certain specialist. “Surface transport in such a case could not be contemplated, so the doctors came to Imperial Airways, and the interior of one of our specialcharter saloon ’planes was transformed into a flyifig ambulance, a bed for the patient being slung on springs in the centre of it. Provision'was also made for a doctor and nurse, who flew with the patient, to have everything they might require close at hand. Thus well equipped, the journey to the Continent was started, the pilot taking the machine up to a height where any bumps or disturbed air might be avoided. The result was a smooth, swift Journey which the patient bore extremely well, the doctors concerned being delighted at the success of the experiment.

“Aircraft capable of flying long distances at high speeds are now at the disposal of patients and invalids who make journeys by air. As regards the question of cost, it may be interesting to note that a cabin aircraft, with all the comforts and security ~,which go with the multi-engined enclosed type of ’plane, and piloted by one of our route captains, accompanied by an engineer wireless operator, can be chartered at a few minutes’ notice to fly an invalid and doctor to any destination at a rate as low as Is Gd a mile.

In the cabin of such a machine a comfortable bed can be arranged, and paients .can make their entire journey in a reclining or prone position. The use of ambulance ’planes has, in fact, now become a regular and established feature of aerial travel, and they often enable patients to make journeys, under medical supervision, which would be altogether impossible by any other means."