The Newborn paediatric Emergency Transport Service (NETS) has added a new specialist ambulance fitted out with advanced paediatric equipment to its state-wide fleet, thanks to funding from Sargents Pies Charitable Foundation secured by SCHF.
NETS is a specialist paediatric emergency service for the medical retrieval of critically ill newborns, infants, and children up to 16 years old across NSW. This occurs when a baby or child needs intensive care not available at the hospital they are being treated in and are too sick for normal ambulance transfer.
Within its first twelve months of operation, the new NETS Paediatric Ambulance travelled 27,774 kilometres, making 245 retrieval missions throughout NSW including Tamworth, Wollongong, and Port Macquarie.
The specialised ambulances are packed with an electrically loading ambulance stretcher, transilluminator holder/recharger, a NETS electric life support trolley, mobile ‘Vision for Life; - allowing live video streaming from patient compartment to NETS medical consultants and nurses. Also included are two-way radios, GPS navigation, satellite tracking, a defibrillator, suction system, storage for medical retrieval kits, and a refrigerator. Specialised equipment like this can only be made possible with support from the community.