Heliport essential to hospital mission
Children’s Memorial Hospital is seeking final approval from the Illinois Department of Transportation to operate a rooftop heliport at
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. An on-site heliport is an essential to fulfilling our mission of caring for the region's children. Take a minute now to sign our new online petition in support of the heliport. Even if you sent a letter or signed a petition in the past, please renew your commitment.
Safety first
- Our guiding principle is the safety of the patient, transport team, pilot, flight crew and everyone on the ground.
- For over 20 years, Children’s Memorial has safely operated a
similar heliport at our Lincoln Park campus.
Thank you to everyone who joined us at IDOT's heliport public hearing on July 22-25. We appreciate your support.
We look forward to IDOT's final decision on our heliport application in the coming months.
- Our comprehensive heliport planning and design, with safety as the first priority, included extensive study by a team of top helicopter and wind experts who have consulted on heliport projects worldwide. Read more about our analysis.
- Following the National Transportation Safety Board hearings in February 2009, we developed additional heliport operating procedures in consultation with aviation safety and pediatric transport experts. Read a summary of those procedures.
- Quarterly reports documenting each transport will be shared with the community as provided to our Lincoln Park neighbors now.
View an example of a quarterly helicopter usage report.
When every second counts
- The heliport will be used to receive critically ill and injured children who cannot be transported by ground transportation without threat to the life or condition, and for time-critical organ transplantation.
- Heliport transports to the future rooftop heliport will be used for pediatric treatment of Children’s Memorial patients only.
- Annually, an average of 73 seriously ill or injured children and five organs for life-saving transplantation are transported by helicopter to our Lincoln Park location
- Children are only brought from other hospitals – never from the scene of accidents.
- Doctors have concluded that using an off-site heliport could result in serious harm to the child being transported because of the additional time and physical movement of the medically fragile child.
Approvals
After two years of extensive review, the following have approved plans for the rooftop heliport:
- City of Chicago Plan Commission, Zoning Committee and full City Council
- Federal Aviation Administration
- Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), preliminary approval.