American, CareFlite aim for better traffic flow at Love
American Airlines and air-ambulance service CareFlite recently collaborated on how they will share crowded airspace and will work together to minimize traffic delays at Dallas Love Field. When a CareFlite helicopter is inbound to a hospital helipad, it has priority over all other air traffic, which could interrupt the normal flow of traffic.
But American Airlines pilots now have a special document in their flight kits that alerts them to the presence of CareFlite helicopters operating in close proximity to the arrival and departure corridors at Love Field.
“The traffic is dense, but manageable and providing the American pilots knowledge as to how and where we operate will help them stay on schedule when confronted with a delay caused by CareFlite-Life Guard traffic,” said Roger Catlin, a CareFlite helicopter pilot and a retired Delta Air Lines captain.
Fort Worth-based American recently began service to Love, which is surrounded by major trauma hospitals serving Dallas-Fort Worth. Each trauma center has a helipad used by CareFlite helicopters carrying accident victims, newborns in distress and other patients in need of lifesaving care to medical treatment.
Medical City becomes donor site
Dallas hospital Medical City officially became Texas Cord Blood BankÂ’s first North Texas donor site Aug. 9, allowing umbilical-cord blood to be collected to help patients with potentially fatal diseases.
TCBB, a division of the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center, is a nonprofit program established by the state legislature in 2001. There are three other sites statewide.
“We believe that of the nearly 3,000 deliveries we perform each year, many of these mothers will be eager to participate in the program,” said Britt Berrett, CEO of Medical City.
Umbilical-cord blood, which is normally discarded after the birth of a baby, is rich in blood-making cells that can be used as an alternative to bone marrow transplants to treat cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, disorders of the blood-making system such as sickle-cell anemia, and severe immune-system disorders.
Parents do not incur costs for donating and the cord blood will be used to build a statewide cord blood bank.
TCBBÂ’s first collections began in June 2005 at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. Other collection centers are Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen and Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville.
Local nursing programs receive over $1.3 million in grants
Nursing programs at the University of Texas at Arlington and DentonÂ’s Texas WomanÂ’s University are celebrating the receipt of more than $1.3 million in grants.
UT-Arlington School of Nursing Professors Jennifer Gray and Mary Lou Bond have received a three-year, $767,687 federal grant from the Advanced Education Nursing Grants Program for a project aimed at preparing advanced education nurses for roles as clinical researchers and faculty through education and practice.
The project, Reducing Health Disparities through Doctoral Education, will be used to increase the number of post-Ph.D. productive years of employment by admitting bachelor of science in nursing-prepared nurses degrees; reduce the mismatch between professional nurses and those to whom they provide service by admitting more students from disadvantaged backgrounds; and graduating the students, as well as those entering the program with master of science in nursing degrees, so they can fill the growing number of positions for faculty and clinical nurse researchers.
The grant is provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Meanwhile, Texas WomanÂ’s University College of Nursing recently was awarded $550,000 from the Helene Fuld Trust HSBC Bank USA NA Trustee to establish a scholarship endowment for undergraduate students pursuing nursing baccalaureate degrees.
TWU officials said the funds will provide money over a three-year period, of which $500,000 is to be held in a permanent endowment fund. The remainder of the initial grant funding and future income from the endowment will be used for scholarships for nursing students beginning in fall 2006.
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