Medical Escort Services in India.
It was like a fairy-tale wedding for Sonia and Ranbir. All the wedding ceremonies went well and as per the plan. Lots of relative from India and abroad arrived for the ceremonies. Lavish food, decoration, music and lots of fun for all the attending members. Ranbir's aunt Mona, who came down from Canada, suffered from BP related issues. During the occassion she skipped her medicine and didn't pay much attention to her diet. She just gorged enormously on food, sweets etc. The day after the wedding ceremony was over, few of the relatives had already left.Mona had planned to stay back and visit the places in Amritsar with her kids and kin and then leave for Canada. But the celebration turned bitter when, Mona suffered from a strokes attack and she had to be admitted to the hospital.
The doctor's examined her and carried out tests. They arrived at the conclusion that the patient has suffered from a hemorrhagic stroke condition.
Doctor’s explained the situation to the patients immediate family:
Stroke is a medical condition whereby the blood flow to the brain is poor and results in cell death. There are two types of stroke condition: Ischemic whereby there is a lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, whereby there is internal bleeding. Both the types of stroke result in parts of the brain not functioning properly. They also explained to them the common symptoms which the family must have left unnoticed.
It is very important to pay attention to the signs and symptoms as the length of time the symptoms have been present can affect the treatment options:
The trouble with speaking and understanding. One may experience confusion, some may show symptoms like slurring during speaking words or some may have difficulty understanding the speech.
Other symptoms can be paralysis or numbness of the face, leg or arm. This often happens on one side of the body.
If there is the slightest doubt of stroke, one should try to raise both the arms over his/her head at the same time and check if one arm begins to fall, in this case it can be confirmed that the person may be having a stroke. In some cases, there is a slight droop on one side of the mouth.
One may experience vision problem while seeing, in one or maybe both eyes. One may even suddenly have blurred or no vision in one or both eyes, or someone may see things double.
Other symptoms involve severe headache which maybe accompanied by vomiting, lost consciousness, dizziness, this may be an indication of having a stroke.
Some may experience trouble while walking or may stumble or experience sudden dizziness, loss of balance or loss of coordination.
What is Hemorrhagic stroke?
Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the person's brain ruptures or leaks, in short there occurs internal damage and bleeding in the brain blood vessels. Brain hemorrhages can be a result of many conditions that affect blood vessels. The most common reasons include:
Very high blood pressure or(hypertension)
Over dosage of anticoagulants (i.e. blood thinners).
Weak spots in the blood vessel walls.
A lesser cause may be arteriovenous malformation or hemorrhage due to the rupture of an abnormal tangle of thin-walled blood vessels .
Types of hemorrhagic stroke include:
Intracerebral hemorrhage. In this case, a blood vessel in the brain bursts open and spills into the surrounding brain tissue, resulting in damaging the surrounding brain cells. Brain cells surrounding the leak are deprived of blood and they are also damaged.
High blood pressure, extensive use of blood-thinning medications, trauma, vascular malformations, and other conditions may cause an intracerebral hemorrhage.
Subarachnoid hemorrhage: In this case, an artery on or near the surface of the brain bursts and spills into the space between the surface of the person's brain and the skull. This kind of hemmorage is bleeding is often signaled by a severe
and sudden headache.
After this type of hemorrhage, the blood vessels in the brain may widen and narrow erratically (vasospasm), causing brain cell damage by further limiting blood flow.
The family initiated the best possible option of flying the patient back to Canada after stabilizing the patient. Hi-Flying Air Ambulance services are among the best in India, which was known to the family, so they contacted them to see whether they can repatriate the patient from India to Canada. Hi Flying is a global organization and it operates in most of the countries in the world.
The patient’s present condition was discussed with the medical team of Hi Flying and they suggested the option of flying the patient in an Air Ambulance with a team of Medical Escorts.
Medical escorts are trained medical and paramedics, which includes both doctors and nurses and who are trained specially to escort patients who may be in a critical or non-emergency condition. Their training is more vigilant as they have to attend patients in an air ambulance, where they have very less ground support. All the protocols related to flying the patient should be known to the team. This also includes the documentation procedure for flying patient from one country to another or sometimes even internally within the country. The person should be alert, should have strong decision making capability in case of an emergency, should be compassionate towards the patient and patience is the key aspect of the Medical escort.
Hi Flying team have many years of experience, the company has provided their excellent services in case of repatriating patients with a complicated medical history, from India to other parts of the world. Their medical escorts have repatriated many patients with disabilities, COPD history, burn accidents, severe trauma, neonatal and pediatric patients. Doctors, nurses, and paramedics those who have at least five years of experience are chosen by the company in their team.
Medical escorts accompany the patient in the business class or first class cabin of a significant commercial airline depending upon the medical condition of the patient. If the patient is immobile, it is suggested to fly in a business class or first class seat that offers a flexible movement of seats during their flight. In case the commercial flight option is not viable for flying the patient, private Air Ambulances are suggested. All the procedures required w.r.t medical clearances is coordinated well, and the team makes all ground and air transport arrangements. Specialized equipment needed for the transportation of the patient is arranged on board by the medical team in coordination with the flight engineers. The team is well equipped with modern and sophisticated equipment and trained to handle all the equipment. Their team arranges documentation related to discharge of the patient from the hospital, taking down the history of the patient and arrangement of the ground ambulance to the airport.
They carefully monitor the medical status right from the transit of the patient from the ground until reaching the destination. Under the supervision of the attending doctor of the health care facility, updated medical reports are received till the time of patient's departure to ensure that if any modification of flight plan needs to be done to secure a safe arrival. All treatment imparted to the patient in-flight is per the medical orders provided by the primary doctor of the attending hospital.
Upon arrival at the destination, the medical escort will provide detailed information to the receiving medical facility. If the patient is to be deported to his/her home, the medical escort team will assist the patient and the family in making a conversant and comfortable adjustment based on the medical needs of the patient.
Mona was transported on a stretcher, from New Delhi international airport to Canada. She reached Canada safely and was transported to the hospital which was already informed about the patient's arrival. Mona is further undergoing a course of treatment and is recovering well.