A Helping Hand, A Mile High – Airline Medical Escort

byAlma Abell

Airline travel is a major part of how the modern world moves. Especially in cases of a cross-country or an international transit, air travel is the preferred method of mobility for many. However, being on a plane can be difficult for those with major health conditions, disabilities or urgent medical needs. This is where specialized services – such as an air medical escort – make the difference.

How AMT Works and Who It Works For

Airline medical transportation– or AMT – is an important part of today’s medical field. AMT professionals are people who provide mobility services across vast distances through monitoring, medicating or otherwise assisting patients during airline travel. These specialists receive medical education and training that is uniquely suited to the challenges of accommodating clients during air transit.

The patients who might require AMT services are vast and diverse in both annual worldwide number and the conditions for which they are being monitored. Their health and safety concerns can be emergent or non-emergent. Experts in the field see everything from serious, contagious illness – such as Ebola and other epidemics – to those with major physical challenges like the inability to walk or conduct basic self-care. Those who need to move from one area to another for additional or supplemental medical treatment are also candidates for air medical escort.

What do AMT Escorts Do?

What an AMT professional does for an individual patient will depend largely on that patient’s specific needs. A client with a breathing disorder and a patient bound to a wheelchair are likely to require very different methods of care. Some services provided by these escorts include but are not limited to:

• Reserving special seating for clients
• Acquiring and escorting required medical tools or materials
• Advocating for the patient during flights on major airlines
• Acting as a go-between for the client and the air travel company transporting them
• Making the travel process less stressful for the patient and their families

Ultimately, airline medical transit is about providing a safer, more pleasant experience for the traveler as well as those around them. Getting from one location to another while injured, ill or disabled can be a struggle. However, with the help of these professionals, it doesn’t have to be that way.