The Newborn/Young Child Flight Team is based out of The Children's Hospital and is comprised of nurses and respitory therapists who are specialists in pediatric and neonatal patients and are capable of resuscitating and supporting the life of the smallest of neonates. On occasion, the Newborn/ Young Child Team will accompany the Adult Team on a high-risk OB transport  and in some situations will be asked to be on hand at a referring facility for a known high-risk delivery to assist with initial care and preparation for immediate transfer to the neonatal ICU.

Key Members of our team include:

Newborn/Young Child Flight Nurses - capable of providing the following advanced procedures:

• Endotracheal intubation, including "rapid sequence" (RSI) pharmacologic adjuncts and laryngeal mask airway (LMA) insertion.
• Mechanical ventilation
• Medicut insertion
• Umbilical artery and vein cannulation with pressure monitoring.
• Administration of pulmonary surfactant.
• Administration of Nitric Oxide gas.
• Complete NRP and PALS services.

Newborn/Young Child Team Flight Respiratory Therapist - Given the particular, and sometimes overwhelming, pulmonary needs of the newborn and young child, the flight respiratory therapist (RT) is a vital member of the Newborn/Young Child Team. Working in concert with the flight nurse, the respiratory therapist is able to assess and deal with the myriad of neonatal and pediatric airway pathologies, and to guide and maintain specialized mechanical ventilation during the transport. The Newborn/Young Child Team RT works in the emergency department and ICU at The Children's Hospital between transports.

Flight Paramedics - Flight For Life® Colorado paramedics are aboard all helicopter flights. The combination of the paramedic's pre-hospital experience with the flight nurse's abilities creates a dynamic team that is able to handle virtually every situation encountered in air medical transport. A paramedic must have at least three years experience in an active ALS system to be considered for a position with Flight For Life® Colorado.

Pilots - Flight For Life® Colorado average 29 years of rotary wing experience, 6,550 flight hours, 350 hours of night vision goggle time and have worked at Flight For Life® Colorado for about nine years. Most of our pilots have military backgrounds with the diverse flight experiences that come with that profession. Due to the location of our bases and the various missions we perform, adequate mountain flying experience is a mandatory job requirement. Our pilots receive regular scheduled training and evaluation flights from the Air Methods Safety and Standardization departments.