Advocate Children's Hospital unveils new ambulance for 30th anniversary of Neonatal Pediatric Transport Team

Thirty years ago, Advocate Children's Hospital created a specialized team to transport the smallest patients to get life-saving care. On the anniversary of the Neonatal Pediatric Transport Team, they unveiled some a new ambulance.

In the past three decades the team has safely transported more than 10,000 newborns and children. They provide one of the state's only transfer centers staffed by clinicians and a medical control physician to streamline care when every second matters.

"Not only do they have to be calm under pressure and to think on their feet, but they're doing it all in the back of a moving vehicle," said Dr. Maureen Quaid, pediatric critical care physician and medical director of the Neonatal Pediatric Transport Program. "They are in contact with physicians and we act as 'medical control' but we are sort of like the coaches – they are the ones in the game."

The team now serves more than 7,500 patients each year.