Pediatric transport services

Advocate Children’s Hospital Transport Team is a primary service for referral facilities to access our expansive resources as we are able to provide critical care in a mobile environment for patients. The mission is to provide stabilization, critical care, and family-centered care to ill and injured neonatal and pediatric patients with safety as a constant value.

Upon arrival bedside, you can expect the Transport Team to carefully assess the needs of the patient and provide them with the care needed for a successful transport.

With safety always in the front of our minds, the transport team takes all precautions to provide the highest level of care in the safest manner. The team has a pre-departure checklist and risk assessment tools in place to ensure the safety of patients, guardians, and staff during the transport. Since the Transport Team members have extensive experience in neonatal and pediatrics, the care is provided under the team’s model of “Care Focused on Kids.”

Our Advocate Children’s Transport Team is one of the only pediatric/neonatal transport teams in the state of Illinois with the capabilities and training to transport patients requiring Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). We are also one of the few critical care transport teams in Illinois who have the capabilities to initiate and transport patients requiring inhaled nitric oxide, sub-ambient therapy, and neonatal high-frequency ventilation.

The Transport Team provides interfacility transports via ambulance and rotor wing for critically ill or injured infants and children to one of our Advocate Children’s Hospitals located in Oak Lawn or Park Ridge. Our Transfer Center facilitates transports across Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin with most transports occurring in our Chicagoland area. With our most recent partnership with the pediatric and neonatal team at Endeavor Health, our team has been able to assist additional transfers to help more children receive the care they need.

To be recognized nationally for excellence in patient care and safety in neonatal and pediatric interfacility transport.

Our Critical Care Transport Team consists of a registered nurse (RN) and a registered respiratory therapist (RRT) in addition to a paramedic and emergency medical technician provided by our partnership with Superior Ambulance. Our nurses and respiratory therapists can perform advanced skills, such as intubation, laryngeal mask airway, needle cricothyrotomy, chest decompression, and intraosseous placement.

Also, advanced therapies that can be utilized during transport are high-frequency ventilation, inhaled nitric oxide, administration of prostaglandin, neonatal therapeutic hypothermia, external ventricular drain management, and the ability to compound high-risk medications.

Our Transfer Center is staffed 24/7, 365 days a year to assist with the intake of requests from facilities and call appropriate physicians to meet the needs of the request. The Transfer Center can then dispatch the appropriate mode of transport for ground and flight requests in an efficient amount of time. Our RNs and RRTs have several certifications that include but are not limited to:

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Pediatric advanced life support
Advanced cardiovascular life support
Neonatal resuscitation program
S.T.A.B.L.E.
Trauma certifications (TNCC/PHTLS)
National Emergency Incident Management System
Neonatal Pediatric Specialist (for our RRTs)
Certified Neonatal Pediatric Transport (C-NPT)

In addition, the Transport Medical Director is certified as a Certified Medical Transport Executive (CMTE) to ensure the team is up to date and involved in the industry. The transport team participates in the Ground and Air Medical Quality in Transport Improvement Collaborative to assist us with the GAMUT database to track, report, and analyze our performance on transport-specific quality metrics by comparing it to other programs. Our partnership with Superior Ambulance adds additional staff in the transport vehicles to provide the highest standard of care for the patient with additional expertise in emergency management services and aeronautical medicine.

Accreditation from the Commission on the Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems since 2015.

To arrange for a patient transfer to either campus, please call 844-KIDS-ACH (844-543-7224). Upon calling the Transfer Center, please have the following information available for the Transfer Center Staff.

Preferred campus (Oak Lawn and/or Park Ridge)
Patient’s name
Patient’s date of birth
Patient’s gender
Referring hospital’s call back number
Referring physician’s first and last name
Fax a patient demographic sheet to the Transfer Center at 630-834-1405

At that time, the Transfer Center will obtain clinical information from the provider caring for the patient in order to get the appropriate Advocate Children's Hospital physician on the phone for a physician-to-physician conference call. All phone calls in the Transfer Center are recorded for quality and safety purposes. Once the patient is accepted to Advocate Children's Hospital, the Transfer Center will provide you with the following information.

Accepting physician’s name
Accepting unit’s phone number for RN to call RN to RN report
ETA for Advocate Children’s Transport Team’s arrival to referring hospital or alternative team’s ETA if appropriate

For any additional questions related to the transfer, please call 844-KIDS-ACH (844-543-7224).

Part 135 Certificate Holder:

For all rotor wing transports, the Part 135 Certificate Holder is located:

Metro Aviation, Inc.

1214 Hawn Avenue

Shreveport, LA 71107

The Transport Team is dedicated to continuing education and being a resource to the community. If your facility or department is interested in the Transport Team assisting with a continuing education topic, please contact: