CAMDEN, NJ — Those suffering from life-threatening heart or lung failure now have a new line of support in South Jersey.
Cooper University Health Care rolled out its Mobile Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Transport Program, bringing advanced life support to patients before they get to the hospital.
A specialized multidisciplinary team is now able to travel and perform ECMO to stabilize critically ill individuals and bring them back to Cooper for ongoing care.
ECMO is an advanced form of treatment for oxygenating and circulating blood outside the body.
This allows the heart and lungs to rest and recover when standard methods no longer work well enough.
The team made its first run in mid-February, helping a man who was undergoing serious acute respiratory distress syndrome in Vineland.
He was not able to tolerate standard ventilator transport and was stabilized on ECMO before being taken back to Cooper and later discharged.
"Our vision is to ensure that geography is never a barrier to life-saving therapy," said Nitin Puri, MD, director of Critical Care Services. "This program reflects our commitment to innovation, collaboration, and delivering the highest level of care to the sickest patients wherever they are."
According to Cooper, this advancement in ECMO displays the added push forward in phases to grow access to highly specialized treatments.
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