October 8, 2025
Story by Kerianne Sproule | Photos by Leah Hennel
![I want [parents] to know that we're doing absolutely everything we can for their baby. I'm going to care for their baby as if they're my own. - Chelsea O'Keefe, SANTS Nurse Clinician.](https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/image/news/photo-gallery/sants/image18.jpg)
CALGARY — Before the babies arrive, the work has already begun. A respiratory therapist checks her pager, makes a call, and quietly prepares. She’s part of the Southern Alberta Neonatal Transport Service (SANTS), a specialized team trained to support newborns in their most fragile moments, whether across the province or just down the hall.
These NICU-trained nurses and respiratory therapists travel by ground, air or virtual connection to deliver intensive care to some of Alberta’s tiniest patients. Whether they’re stabilizing a baby in a rural hospital, supporting a high-risk delivery in Calgary, or transferring a baby closer to home, the SANTS team brings neonatal critical care wherever it's needed.
Based out of the Foothills Medical Centre NICU, their reach spans all of southern Alberta — and sometimes beyond. They respond to urgent and emergent calls using ground ambulances, fixed-wing aircraft, or STARS helicopters, depending on the distance and how fast they need to get there.
“Our job is to go wherever we’re needed,” says Chelsea O’Keefe, a nurse clinician with the team. “We carry essentially a NICU on wheels with us. The same medications, the same equipment — so we can deliver the same standard of care out there, as we would in the unit.”
SANTS transports some of the most vulnerable patients in the province: babies born extremely preterm, or those with respiratory complications, infections, neurological conditions, or serious heart or bowel problems. Some weigh less than a block of butter.
Each transport is staffed by a nurse clinician and a registered respiratory therapist — both with advanced NICU experience — working under the medical direction of a neonatologist.
“We classify transfers into three levels,” says Bryan Rombough, unit manager for both the Foothills NICU and the SANTS program. “Elective transfers help manage capacity — moving babies back to their home city or zone. Urgent calls are for babies who are stable but need a higher level of care. And emergent calls — that’s when the baby is unstable and getting the team to the patient as quickly as possible is critical.”
The team doesn’t just transport babies — they also support rural hospitals remotely, offering real-time guidance through Telehealth when a newborn is in distress or needs specialized care. And when high-risk deliveries happen at Foothills, the team is often involved from the very first breath.
That was the case one morning earlier this year, when a pair of premature twins arrived at Foothills Medical Centre. Within seconds, the room shifted — a blur of blue and yellow gowns, gloved hands and quiet coordination — as members of the SANTS team worked seamlessly alongside NICU and surgical colleagues.
“Sometimes it’s just a look — we’re so in tune. He’s bagging the baby, I’m taping the tube, someone hands me blood … we just keep moving,” says O’Keefe.
The job is busy, technical and high-pressure. But the most important part is knowing that parents are trusting you with their baby.
“I want them to know we’re doing absolutely everything we can for their baby,” adds O’Keefe. “I’ll care for them like they’re my own.”
