McLeod unveiled its unified patient transport services, McLeod Life Reach, during a celebration held April 9 at McLeod Regional Medical Center. This event marks the official merging of McLeod Heart Reach and McLeod Child Reach into a single, streamlined service to meet the increasing demands for hospital-to-hospital critical care transport.
Speakers for the celebration were Rebecca Vincent, Vice President of Women’s and Children’s Services at MRMC, Dr. Douglas Moeckel, Neonatologist and Medical Director of the McLeod NICU, and Kelvin Oakley, Corporate Director, Patient Flow Center & Life Reach Critical Care Transport.
“With the growth of the McLeod Health system, the need for a more robust patient transport program is greater than ever,” said Vincent. “This really symbolizes our ability to care for patients across the lifespan from neonates to adults.”
Oakley added, “As our local populations continue to grow, so does the need to get our loved ones transported to the right location for their care with minimal or no delays. Hospital clinical care is often focused on the ‘here and now’ but one of the most critical pieces of the puzzle is ‘how’ to get these patients where they need to be. Our family, our patients, and our community rely on a team they have never met to care for the most important people in our lives. It is this team, our neonatal staff, pediatric and adult staff here today and the many that came before, that have paved the way for where we are today.
“I would like to acknowledge Dr. Moeckel and Dr. Huxford for their medical directorships, the McLeod Foundation for their financial support and the entire McLeod Health leadership team for their continued commitment to the mission and growth of Life Reach.
“This is our vision, this is our team, and our patients are the ‘why’ Life Reach exists, and we are ‘here for life.’”
Heart Reach and Child Reach began caring for patients in 1990 and over the last 35 years have transported more than 15,000 neonatal, pediatric and adult patients.