Altru Care Flight Begins Neonatal Patient Transports

Grand Forks, N.D. – Altru Health System is excited to announce the initiation of neonatal transportation services through Altru Care Flight as an extension of its renowned Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Altru Care Flight is an air ambulance transport program that has been serving patients across the region since April of 2019. A Pilatus PC 12 fixed-wing aircraft anchors the service and is located at the Grand Forks Regional Airport. The air ambulance is equipped with the latest and most advanced lifesaving equipment and can now provide the region with rapid access to Altru’s specialized neonatal medical care. The Altru Care Flight neonatal transportation team consists of registered nurses and respiratory therapists that are overseen and specifically trained to care for premature neonates by Altru’s neonatology physician staff.

“The Altru Care Flight fixed-wing aircraft ensures that our neonatal transportation team arrives to provide their specialized care in a fraction of the time it has historically taken. The greater rate of speed that occurs with fixed-wing transportation also significantly reduces the amount of time that our neonatal patients are not in our NICU,” states Durga Panda, MD, neonatology at Altru Health System.

To make an emergency or hospital NICU transfer to or from Altru call 855.4ALTRU1 (855.425.8781), or for more information visit altru.org/careflight.

About Altru Health System

Based in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Altru Health System is a regional, integrated healthcare delivery system serving northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. Altru is a physician-led, multi-specialty group practice with a 277-bed acute care hospital, Level II trauma center, 45-bed specialty hospital, more than two dozen Grand Forks and regional practice locations, and a large home care network. Altru employs over 300 physicians and advanced practice providers and 4,000 staff. With a focus on advanced technology, Altru deployed the first Mako® Robotic Arm system in North Dakota and enhanced Altru’s Robotics with the recent addition of the DaVinci Xi Robotic Surgical System. In 2018, Altru was awarded fourth Most Wired® in the nation, a recognition for systems at the forefront of using healthcare information technology to improve the delivery of care. Altru Health System has received accreditation from the Joint Commission, the premier health care quality improvement and accrediting body in the nation, and has achieved 50 years of CARF accreditation at Altru’s Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital. Altru Health System was the first member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, extending Mayo Clinic knowledge and expertise to the patients we serve. For more information, visit altru.org.