The Infant Transport Team is marking the 40th anniversary of their unit, which travels around the province providing critical care to some of British Columbia’s most vulnerable patients.

The team uses helicopters, jets and ground ambulances to take sick infants and children from remote communities to either BC Children’s Hospital or BC Women’s Hospital.

Inflight, the team utilizes state-of-the-art medical equipment, described as an intensive care unit in the sky, to keep their patients alive.

“As you can see, we don’t have a lot of space to work,” said Infant Transport Team Paramedic Graem Luis as he showed off the inside of a modified Citation jet.

"The premise of the team is that we try to deliver intensive care to the patient, rather than have them wait until they get to BC Children's to receive that care,” said Luis.

Capt. Peter Dickson has been a pilot for 40 years and has spent the last four working with the Infant Paramedic Team.

He praises the medical staff for the lives he has seen them save, while downplaying his own role.

But when the call comes in from a remote B.C. community, the team relies on his decades of experience at the controls.

"It's a different type of flying, very challenging mountain flying and a lot of night flying. It's a very rewarding career but a very challenging career,” said Dickson.

Paramedic Raymond Sims started with the team when it was formed in 1976.

Over the years, his expertise and the equipment he uses have evolved.

They used to save about 10 per cent of the lives of babies born 12 weeks premature.

"What we have learned over the years and the expertise, flipped that around,” said Sims. “We have a 90 per cent survival success rate."

One of those success stories grew up to become a nurse, working at BC Children’s Hospital, alongside the very doctor that helped her through those critical first few hours of life.

"That's amazing,” said Sims. “It just validates everything you do and makes it worthwhile."