Neonatal and Pediatric Transport Archive — Page 1 of 1

Dean Driver at his home in Gallatin, Tennessee. (photo by Susan Urmy)
December 18, 2024

The man who gave Angel 1 its wings

“How much closer to an angel can you get than a little bitty baby struggling for life?” said Dean Driver, 91, who converted a panel truck into VUMC’s first neonatal transport in his driveway.

A seated man holds a swaddled infant connected to medical tubing while a woman leans toward him; another woman stands in the background of a warmly lit living room.
September 5, 2024

Taking Everett home: Born with only days to live, the little boy’s family got to show him the room they had prepared for him, let the sun shine on his face, and surround him with love

The Monroe Carell transport team is best known for bringing babies to the hospital. Sometimes, though, the journey goes home.

Black-and-white photograph of a box-style ambulance marked “AMBULANCE” driving on a divided highway, with commercial buildings, signs, utility poles, and traffic in the background.
September 5, 2024

From a bread truck to a fleet: ‘Angel’ transport celebrates 50 years of giving critically ill children a fighting chance

The first of its kind in the region, the Neonatal and Pediatric Transport team launched under the direction of Mildred T. Stahlman, MD, a neonatal medicine pioneer who created the first modern NICU in 1961. The goal: to give babies a fighting chance.

Smiling young child in a floral surgical cap and hospital gown sits in a hospital bed with medical tubing, an IV, and a chest dressing, coloring in a book with a watercolor palette.
December 5, 2023

ECMO-equipped Angel 7 crucial for young patient’s long care journey

A seriously ill young patient’s 200-mile journey to receive the care she needed was made possible by Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt’s pediatric transport team and the ECMO-equipped Angel 7 ambulance.

Smiling young girl with long light-brown hair sits propped up in a hospital bed, wearing an orange patterned shirt.
November 22, 2023

Gracie was with her mom and grandmother on a road trip. A medical emergency brought the Angel 7 ambulance to her rescue.

Angel 7 is the first pediatric transport team in Tennessee to offer extracorporeal membrane oxygenation — ECMO — for its patients. It was the difference in life and death.

Blue, red, and white ambulance marked “Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt” and “NEONATAL PEDIATRIC TRANSPORT,” with an “Angel 7” emblem, parked in a covered vehicle bay.
May 19, 2023

New Angel 7 ambulance offers ECMO transport

With the addition of a specially designed new ambulance, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is now the first pediatric transport team in the state to offer ECMO transport for its patients.