This team is always mission-focused and treats every call individually. But they had a challenging transfer request from an outside facility for a four-year-old who had a week-long history of cough and congestion.
When the team arrived at the outside facility, they realized quickly that this young child needed critical care services. The patient had an endotracheal tube in place, which made it impossible to connect the patient to a ventilator. The differential diagnosis of the patient was diabetic ketoacidosis. The crew, realizing that intubation was not possible, decided to manually ventilate the patient.
The patient's Mennonite family elected not to ride along in the transport, "leaving it up to God's will." The patient continued to decompensate and the team incorporated the PICU attending physician in the treatment plan, having doubts about the initial DKA diagnosis. As the transport arrived, the patient went into cardiac arrest. The team decided to head to the Emergency Department and use the resuscitation bay. As the patient stayed in the ICU for eight days, the Life Lion crew stayed in touch, leaving a stuffed Life Lion to let the family know they had been there. The patient was eventually discharged home after several weeks in the hospital.
The Life Lion crew was commended for using their critical thinking skills to positively change the outcome for this young patient.