Wilford Hall team flies to Alaska to evacuate infant

  • Published
  • By Dewey Mitchell
  • 59th Medical Wing Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  A 10-month-old girl battling a severe case of pneumonia was flown 4,000 miles by Airmen from Wilford Hall Medical Center here April 28.

Carle David was hospitalized in Anchorage when officials requested help. The neonatal critical-care air transport medical team, which stays prepared to launch on short notice, left for Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska on April 26.

The Airmen placed Carle on an extra corporeal membrane oxygenator, a portable heart-lung bypass machine, April 27 and then moved her to Elmendorf. They arrived at San Antonio International Airport on April 28 at about 2:30 a.m. Carle’s mother and grandmother accompanied her on the 4,000-mile trip.

An ambulance took her to Wilford Hall where she is being monitored for several days before the medical staff can remove the lifesaving device. Children’s lungs are often able to heal themselves as the stress is removed with the help of the machine, officials said.

Many medical centers worldwide use the oxygenator, but Wilford Hall has the only long-distance air transportable unit. Without this procedure, doctors said Carle’s chances of survival were about 10 percent. Now, her chances have dramatically increased to 90 percent. (Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)