Westmed and O’Connor Hospital Develop KangooFix Newborn Transport Protocol

Following a restructuring within Santa Clara Valley Healthcare, Labor and Delivery services at O’Connor Hospital were relocated to Regional Medical Center. The change meant O’Connor needed a plan for the rare cases in which a baby might still be delivered in its Emergency Department, including emergency C-sections and other complications during labor.

Westmed was brought in to help develop a newborn ambulance transport protocol. Mothers and newborns requiring additional care would be transferred to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, the nearest county facility with a Labor and Delivery department. For mothers and newborns who were stable enough to travel together, hospital staff wanted to maintain skin-to-skin contact during the trip. Westmed also needed to make sure both patients could be properly secured inside the ambulance.

The team started by reviewing the equipment already available. They looked at specialized infant car seats, existing pediatric restraint systems, and other county-required equipment carried on Westmed ambulances. Using two ambulances, one for the mother and one for the newborn, was also considered. The available equipment was not built for this type of transport. Sending two ambulances would work logistically, but it would separate the mother and newborn when there was not a clinical reason to do so.

The team brought the issue to Lisa Dubnoff, Westmed’s Director of Health and Safety.

Lisa joined Westmed with years of experience in the fire service and neonatal transport. Earlier in her career, she helped build and operate a paramedic NICU rescue unit at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. The unit transported thousands of critically premature infants and handled cases where the equipment, positioning, and transport plan had to be worked out carefully before the ambulance moved.

Through that experience, Lisa was familiar with the KangooFix neonatal restraint system. The KangooFix secures a newborn against a parent during ambulance transport. The mother remains secured to the stretcher while the newborn is placed inside a separate restraint attached to the stretcher system. This allows the baby to remain close to the mother while both patients are properly secured.

Westmed purchased the device and tested it with the stretchers and equipment used in its Santa Clara County ambulances. After confirming that it worked with Westmed’s equipment, the team began developing the protocol with O’Connor Hospital. The proposed process was also reviewed by the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center NICU team and the Santa Clara County EMS Agency. The review covered more than how to attach the device. The teams had to establish which patients would be eligible to use it, how the mother and newborn would be prepared for transport, what responsibilities belonged to hospital staff, and what Westmed crews would need to check before leaving the Emergency Department.

Once the process was approved, Westmed began training with O’Connor staff inside the Emergency Department. Some days included three simulated transports beginning as early as 6 a.m. Hospital staff and ambulance crews practiced positioning the mother, securing the newborn, attaching the KangooFix to the stretcher, and preparing both patients for the trip to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. Running the simulation repeatedly helped both teams identify small issues before the protocol was used with a patient. It also gave hospital staff and Westmed crews a chance to become familiar with each other’s roles during the transfer. Westmed’s Clinical Training Specialist developed additional video and in-person training for field staff. The KangooFix was also added to new-hire orientation so incoming clinicians could learn the system as part of their regular training.

Santa Clara County EMS confirmed that Westmed was the only ambulance provider in the county carrying the KangooFix. Westmed clinicians were trained through classroom instruction and simulations with O’Connor staff, making them the first EMS professionals in Santa Clara County trained to use the device.

The completed protocol gives O’Connor a county-approved process for transferring eligible mothers and newborns from its Emergency Department to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. When both patients are stable enough to travel together, they can now be transported without being separated unnecessarily.