THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 31, 1995 TAG: 9505310486
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DEROCHI, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Jessica Butler was supposed to be a healthy baby.
Blood tests taken during pregnancy showed no signs of any problems. The ultrasounds all were normal. Ten fingers. Ten toes. Jessica was going to be a perfect little girl.
But hours after she was born at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, Jessica lay in neonatal intensive care, hooked to a ventilator and facing possible death.
When her doctors decided to transport her to a Washington hospital for treatment, they didn't want to wait for an ambulance or private plane to take her.
So they called Oceana.
One hour later, Jessica, her doctor and nurse were flown to the National Children's Medical Center in a SH-3H Sea King, the first infant to take advantage of a partnership between the intensive care unit and a search and rescue helicopter squadron at the naval air station in Virginia Beach .
The partnership was started earlier this year as a way to provide a quick and low-cost transportation for the small number of infants born with severe lung deficiencies.
``With the helo, we can be out the door and on our way in about an hour,'' said Dr. Katherine V. Nichols, the director of newborn services at Portsmouth Naval.
``Time is very critical with these infants, and every hour saved in getting them (treatment) is helpful.''
Nichols, an Air Force major, has estimated that each transport saves about $10,000 - the cost of the private plane that was used in the past to take the infants.
The service is provided for newborns who need to go to the civilian D.C. hospital for a complicated, aggressive therapy known as ECMO, or extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation. The procedure supplies an artificial lung outside of the body to place the needed oxygen in the child's blood while the diseased lungs heal.
The therapy is usually the last resort for infants who have difficulty getting oxygen into their blood.
So far, only two newborns at Portsmouth Naval have needed to use the service.
On April 5, it was Jessica Butler.
She was born weighing 7 1/4 pounds and sporting a full head of dark brown hair. Her color was good and the doctors promised Jessica's mother, Beth, she'd get to hold her soon.
Twenty minutes later, they said there was a problem. Jessica's blood gases were not where they should be. There was a problem with her breathing.
Later that night, the problem worsened.
``I was in shock, trying to absorb the whole thing,'' said Beth Butler. ``I wanted to recuperate in my room with my child in my arms. I couldn't touch her. I couldn't hold her.''
The next morning, Beth and her husband, Donald, a nurse who worked at the time in the naval hospital's labor and delivery room, were told Jessica needed the ECMO.
The doctors said Jessica would be transported by the Navy helicopter. A doctor and nurse would go with her.
In D.C., doctors at the children's hospital warned the Butlers that Jessica had three weeks to improve. If there was no sign that her lung capacity was getting better at that time, the Butlers would have to make a decision on what more should be done to keep the baby alive.
Four days later, Jessica was better.
In one week, she was healed.
She came home on April 17.
This time by ambulance. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
Jessica Butler, right, is held by her father, Donald. Left is
Kaleigh Butler, 2 1/2, and Jessica's mother, Beth. Jessica had a
close call in April, but is healthy now, thanks in part to a new
rescue program at Oceana.
by CNB