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Do you or your loved one want to travel, but worry you’re not able to do so either alone or without medical assistance? An Air Medical Escort service might be just what you need. Read more to learn the top reasons you might need a medical escort and how they could benefit you during your travels.
What Is a Medical Escort?
A Medical Escort is a trained medical professional who accompanies patients while travelling on a commercial flight to provide medical care and assistance during the trip for safety and comfort.
A Medical Escort can be a Registered Nurse, a certified Paramedic, or even a licensed Physician with specialized training in critical care and emergency medicine. They have the medical skills and experience to handle any medical situation, including life-threatening emergencies, at high altitudes.
The medical escort is with the patient during the entirety of their travels for a bedside-to-bedside transfer. The professional begins inside the home/facility collecting personal belongings such as medications and luggage, travel with them to and from both airports in appropriate ground transportation, check in and board the flight with the patient, and provide medical assistance during the flight. In addition to the patients’ belongings, they too have their own belongings and are equipped with any extra medical equipment that might be needed during the flight. Medical Escorts are limited to ICU equipment on a commercial airliner, but are still able to provide basic IV therapy, suction, oxygen, and in some cases cardiac monitoring.
Why Use a Medical Escort?
A Medical Escort flight provides an alternative medical air transportation option that is more cost-effective and affordable for patients in more stable and non-critical medical conditions. This unique transport service is not always an option for patients, but in most causes if they are in a non-critical medical condition and can sit upright and be responsive, they can benefit from a medical escort transfer.
Below are our top 5 reasons a patient would benefit from a Medical Escort.
- Elderly Needing Extra Assistance
Older patients, defined as 60 years of age or older, can benefit from special medical assistance on a commercial flight if they are nervous to travel, wheelchair bound, physically weak, or oxygen dependent. Typically, in this case medical escorts are used for non-emergent flights that aid the elderly who would like to travel by offering comfort, reassurance, mobility, and navigation assistance. The medical escorts are trained to administer oxygen and medication to patients. They can also provide holistic care that can put patients’ bodies and minds at ease, giving them peace of mind as they travel. Medical escorts are with the patient starting as early as inside the home all the way to their final destination whether it’s a family members’ home, vacation home, rehab facility, or senior living facility.
- Physically Injured
If a patient is physically injured, for example a broken limb that impacts their mobility particularly in the lower extremities, medical assistance can be essential to travel on a commercial flight. Not only can this service protect the patient but could be required by the airline depending on the patients’ condition. With a plaster cast that restricts your movement and often circulation, a commercial medical escort is required to provide medical care, pain medication, and in-flight management. With a medical escort, patients with minor injuries that can sit upright will get into business class. For more severe injuries where a patient needs to lay down for the duration of their travels, medical escort services will set up a commercial flight stretcher, where a row of seats is removed, and a stretcher is installed. In either case, a medical professional alongside these patients can be very useful for their utmost comfort and safety.
- Special Needs or Mental Health Condition
One of the main emergencies occurring in the air travel industry is related to mental illness. Traveling with mental illness brings uncertainty for both the patient’s well-being as well as the safety of the other travelers on the plane. Traveling and flying can put a lot of stressors on travelers with mental conditions. The unfamiliarity of the flight environment, unpredictability of other travelers, and small spaces can heighten or trigger the mental state of these travelers. Patients with mental illness or special needs can benefit from a trained medical escort who have experience dealing with the vulnerabilities of mental health patients. They are skilled in providing care mid-flight and know how to tackle an emergency in unknown environments. They can provide these travelers with the care, comfort and reassurance needed for a smooth flight.
- Chronic Medical Condition
Chronic diseases are medical conditions that require ongoing medical attention and can often limit activities of daily living. Examples of chronic conditions can be heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and oxygen dependent conditions. Luckily, with the help of a medical escort these conditions don’t have to limit traveling by flight. The benefit of having a medical professional with you during your travels under these conditions is the expert medical care and on-board medical equipment and medication needed to provide patients with chronic conditions comfortable and calm. Medical escorts stay with patients for the entirety of their travels from bedside to bedside, getting to the airport, boarding the flight, during the flight, and after the flight. With a medical escort, most patients with chronic issues can still travel safely.
- Necessity Travels After Medical Surgery
Although it is never recommended for a patient to travel soon after surgery, if it is necessary to do so they could benefit from the assistance of a medical professional during their flight. After surgery a patient can be in a very vulnerable and volatile state. They could have many minor side effects such as nausea and vomiting, soreness, pain, and swelling that can make a commercial flight very uncomfortable. More importantly there could be major complications such as shock, hemorrhage, and blood clots that can occur when traveling at high altitudes and sitting for long periods of time. A medical professional traveling alongside this patient can help assist with any of these medical needs and get them to their destination safely. The escort will travel with the patient bedside to bedside, have emergency medical equipment and medications, and provide comfort to their patient during the flight.
What Kind of Patient Can Use a Medical Escort?
Anyone needing assistance or medical help during a commercial flight can benefit from a medical escort. A few parameters that a patient needs to meet are as follows, they need to be able to sit secure and upright (unless are approved to go on a stretcher), be non-combative, free from trapped gases and contagious diseases, and supplemental oxygen therapy cannot exceed 5 liters per minute.
If coming from a hospital or medical facility, all patients need to be medically cleared by their treating physician to fly on a commercial flight with an accompanying medical professional. If coming from a private residence or personal vacation, a client can opt for a medical escort at any time for their own or loved ones’ travels to minimize any health risks.
Contact AirCARE1 for your Commercial Medical Escort Needs
As commercial medical escort and travel companion specialists, the AirCARE1 team has extensive knowledge of the domestic and international commercial airline industry. We are your solution for an all-inclusive medical escort transportation plan to transport you or your loved one back home or to a facility for specialized treatment. Contact our team at AirCARE1 to get a quote for your travel today.
