New Mobile Intensive Care Unit Funded In Part By Chartway Promise Foundation
NORFOLK, Va. – Fifty years after CHKD launched its Mobile Intensive Care Program to transport children of all ages to its hospital, the health system added a fifth ambulance to its fleet this month. CHKD’s newest Mobile Intensive Care Unit, which features the artwork of local artist OnieTonie, was purchased with help from Chartway Credit Union’s Chartway Promise Foundation.
The CHKD Mobile Intensive Care team provides lifesaving care to infants and children throughout the region. Since 1975, the team has completed more than 50,000 transports – one third of these involved critically ill newborns.
Chartway Credit Union representatives got a personal tour of the new MICU, which is staffed by a highly skilled clinical team that includes a nurse, a paramedic and a respiratory therapist. When called to another hospital, urgent care or doctor’s office, the MICU team may stay for hours at the referring facility to stabilize a baby or child before transporting them to CHKD to continue their care.
“Our purpose is to bring joy, hope and smiles to medically fragile children and their families, and our partnership with CHKD over the years has allowed us to do that through the toy bag program, funding the Children’s Pavilion Art Therapy room, and more,” said Christine Wilson, Chartway Promise Foundation president. “As CHKD marks the 50th anniversary of its Mobile Intensive Care Program, we are honored to contribute to a future where the most critical pediatric patients receive the specialized care they need through advanced transport solutions.”
CHKD’s Mobile Intensive Care Program is the only licensed EMS agency in the area that’s permitted to provide neonatal transports.
“We are incredibly proud to celebrate our long-standing partnership with CHKD, which has grown since 2010 and continues to support the remarkable work they do,” said Brian Schools, Chartway Credit Union president and CEO. “This year, through the Chartway Promise Foundation, we were able to help fund the only MICU transport of its kind in Virginia, a testament to one of our core values of supporting the community.”
Chartway’s support exemplifies its commitment to the region’s families and children, said Katie Fletcher, CHKD director of philanthropy operations and partnerships. “Thanks to the generosity of our longtime partner Chartway, we’re able to ensure that children from birth to age 21 receive the specialized care they need on their way to CHKD.”