Taking to the skies with Auxilia AeroMedical Assistance

Our air medical roots go back to the year 2000, when I started work as a freelance flight physician with a well-respected European air ambulance company. Later, I became medical director there, and the company achieved accreditation from the European AeroMedical Institute and certification from ISO.

In 2006, together with two paramedics, I set up the sister association of the International Association of Flight and Critical Care Paramedics in Europe and became physician adviser. A membership that year with one of the accreditation associations led to me becoming one of their most frequent quality auditors for more than 10 years. This task was a priceless experience, being entrusted with company details of air ambulance providers worldwide, visiting them, talking to the stakeholders, looking at planes, stock, files, etc. Besides gaining more ideas of how things can be done well, it was also an opportunity to give tips on how to improve, easily. I noted that as quality of air medical training was often viewed as an area of improvement, I began a real air medical training programme and started an air medical academy

Globalmed

Globalmed has now been in existence for 10 years as a pure medical company, offering commercial medical escorts. There were – and are – some co-operations with air ambulance companies, from providing medical teams, to creating a complete medical department.

Since November 2021, we have been focussing on our own goals, which means providing highquality training to air medical personnel, and professional care and treatment for our patients. This is actually supported by Erasmus university. Our training might even become mandatory for all doctors sub-specialising in Transport Medicine in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, we are busy organising international medical events on airborne patient transfers (the next one is on 8/9 July 2022). Speaking, we have medical specialists (anaesthesiology/intensive care/emergency medicine) and registered anaesthesia/intensive care nurses that fly with us.

The trust that our partner assistance companies have in our way of solving medical problems continues to drive our motivation. Good bi-directional communication with them has led to improved patient transport forms, which include all the necessary patient details we need from assistance companies. 

With our extensive worldwide experience in patient transfers and understanding of local situations (health standard, hygiene, equipment status in hospitals, continuous care), we created a world map that includes recommendations about a patient’s fit-to-fly or medical evacuation status (with a higher transfer risk). This map, taken as a tool for both assistance company and medical transfer company, ‘puts the noses into the same direction’ – ie.,we all have the same understanding of the situation and are driven to make the same decision for the best outcome for the patient.

Globalmed offers commercial medical escorts with high-quality standardised medical equipment, including monitoring, oxygen concentrators, etc. Depending on the patient’s situation, more specific items can be added.

Auxilia AeroMedical Assistance

Together with Auxilia AeroMedical Assistance, the first Dutch air ambulance company, we offer worldwide air ambulance flights. Onboard are the latest generation Hamilton T1 ventilators with data transfer on mobile devices, Zoll X-series monitors defibrillators, i-Stat blood gas analysers, syringe and infusion pumps, suction, etc., providing the best possible equipment for patient care.

Brand new stretchers and bases were ordered, which have been custom made according to our demands; we did not want to start with compromises. Aircraft in the fleet are one BAe J32 (Jetstream), twin turboprop, and two Cessna Citation XL jets. Both types have stand-up cabins that can easily accommodate two stretchers.

While the Jetstream is more intended for inner European destinations and able to land on shorter runways, the two XLs are used for worldwide operations. The fleet will grow later this year.