Your safety is our priority. We’re doing more than ever to help ensure your protection and well-being when you come see us for care. Learn more.
806.725.0000

Kite Flight - Specialty Transport Services


Request the Kite Flight Transport Team via our dedicated Children's Transfer Line: 844-977-KIDS (844-977-5437)

View our Service Area and estimated flight time map

View our Kite Flight Specialty Transport Team Modes of Transport to learn more about our specialty helicopter and ambulance - designed just for kids.

What information do you need to provide when setting up a transport?

  • Gestational age, prenatal care provided and birth weight (for newborns) and current weight (for pediatric patients)
  • Diagnosis
  • Focused history and assessment findings

What happens when a transport is initiated?

After you call (844) 977–KIDS (5437), our trained transfer center staff will arrange the logistics. This unique service simplifies the process of transferring a patient, connecting you to the physician, hospital and your transport team.

Can a parent travel with the child during transport?

During transfer by ambulance, one parent rider may accompany his or her child. During helicopter transfers, parents are not able to accompany their child due to flight and safety restrictions.

Covenant Children's Transport Team provides a state-of-the-art mobile intensive care unit for transport of critically ill pediatric and neonatal patients. We are available 24/7 and serve referral sites throughout West Texas/Panhandle Plains and Eastern New Mexico.

Covenant Children’s operates both neonatal, as well as the Region's only pediatric, specialty transport teams.

Calls to 844-977-KIDS will be answered by our transfer center. Trauma and most other patients will be auto-accepted and referring facilities have the option to be immediately connected to a pediatric physician specialist, a transport nurse,or a NNP, to help facilitate care during the transfer.

We Auto-Accept ALL Neonatal & Pediatric Transfers

Most facilities require that they can verify they have the specialists available before they'll accept a patient. This results in a lot of wasted time - with long holds and/or calls back and forth required. We eliminate that step by auto-accepting all pediatric transfers. We're able to do this by having a breadth and depth of providers to where we can confidently say we'll have the required critical care physicians and/or specialists available to respond. This is primarily done via extensive call schedules of pediatric specialists. There are very few specialties (nephrology, cardiovascular surgery, etc.) where we do not have immediately availability and it's possible we will suggest the patient be transferred to another Texas Children's hospital such as Cook or Texas Children's.

Why Pediatric Transport?

Medical transportation of children over substantial distances involves distinct challenges and requires specially trained teams of health care professionals. Research by the American Academy of Pediatrics supports that transport of critically ill children to a pediatric tertiary care center can be conducted more safely with a pediatric critical care specialized team than with teams lacking specific training and expertise in pediatric critical care and pediatric transport medicine

Covenant Children’s brings intensive care nursing and respiratory care services to the referring institution and then assumes care for the patient will in transit to Covenant Children's. The team serves children who require intensive monitoring and continuation of intensive care therapies while en route to Covenant Children’s.

  • Our unique dispatch center is staffed to provide fast, courteous service to the hospitals and physicians that contact Covenant Children’s for patient referral, consultation, and transport services.
  • Callers to Covenant's Children's line will be connected with a physician, a transport RN, RRT, and/or a NNP.

Flight Team Proficiencies

Team members are dedicated to ambulance and flight safety, as well as educated in advanced practice skills. For example, our transport teams respiratory capabilities include high flow nasal canula, non-invasive ventilation, nasal CPAP, and inhaled Nitric Oxide. Other capabilities include:

For Neonatal Transport:

  • Advanced airway management, including intubations
  • High frequency ventilation
  • Inhaled Nitric Oxide (INO)
  • ECMO evaluations
  • High-risk deliveries and neonatal resuscitation
  • UAC/UVC placement
  • Active total body cooling

Certifications including BLS, PALS, NRP, and STABLE are required of neonatal flight team members.

For Pediatric Transports:

  • Advanced airway management, including intubations
  • Advanced respiratory support
  • Needle thoracostomy
  • IO placement
  • ECMO evaluations
  • Initiation and management of inotropes

Certifications including BLS, PALS, ACLS, TNCC, ENPC, NRP and STABLE are required of the pediatric flight team members.

Transport Follow-Up

Following the transport, a member of our Transport Team will communicate with the referring physician regarding the patient progress and outcome. After discharge, a written summary will be sent so the continuity of care can be maintained.