Ann & Robert Lurie children hospital

Eclipse fun and education was had on Monday thanks to our Clinic Activity Coordinator Maya and the Children’s Services team at our Outpatient Center in Lincoln Park! Patients and staff gathered outside to safely view the thanks to the eclipse viewers generously donated by The Adler Planetarium. The Children’s Services team also led solar themed crafts to celebrate!

Last week the Lurie Children’s Transport Team celebrated its two new larger, customized and high-tech ambulances built by longtime partner Medical Express Ambulance Service Inc. These vehicles not only ensure seating for four providers at all times (or a family member) but allow Lurie Children’s to pre-stock specialized equipment and get out the door faster and safer. They are the largest and most complex ambulances in Lurie Children’s fleet and feature:

- Newly designed restraint systems that allow the Transport Team to move and even stand from the seat without coming out of their belts.
- A negative pressure environment in the patient compartment so the vehicle’s hi-tech HVAC and filtration system can be effective in the fight against airborne diseases.
- Refrigeration, enabling the Transport Team to appropriately manage blood products and vaccines.
- Extra power generators to manage the needs of its high-tech equipment.
- Child-friendly creative design internally and externally, and the ability to show age-appropriate videos and movies.
- Uniquely recognizable vehicles with Lurie Children’s distinct branding and colors

“Pediatric critical care teams need to be more mobile and faster than ever before. The new larger ambulances will be more ‘mission-ready’ because they can carry more supplies in the vehicle,” said Robert Newmyer, MD, Critical Care Physician and Medical Director of the Transport Team. “Pediatric emergency and critical care are more regionalized than ever before, as the number of pediatric hospital beds throughout Illinois and the region has decreased over the past decade. We care for kids when other systems cannot. And we have to start the right care at the right time before they even get to Lurie Children’s. These ambulances help us do that.”

Our clinicians are not just care providers but true advocates for child and adolescent health! Recently, Lurie Children's Heart Center Advanced Practice Provider Jaclyn Reider testified in Springfield in front of the House Committee in support of House Bill 5394 which will require all Illinois schools to have Cardiac Emergency Action Plans (CERPs) in place for the 2024-2025 school year. This requirement is part of the Heart Safe Designation process through Project ADAM that is no cost and can be tailored to each individual school.

As an affiliate of Project ADAM, Lurie Children’s aims to increase survival from Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Illinois. Project ADAM (Automated Defibrillators in Adam’s Memory) is a national, non-profit organization committed to saving lives through advocacy, education, preparedness and collaboration to prevent sudden cardiac death. Project ADAM helps schools in the community become better prepared for a sudden cardiac event by becoming Heart Safe designated though CPR education and training, creating a cardiac emergency response plan (CERP), and conducting annual drills with Project ADAM. To learn more, visit www.luriechildrens.org/ProjectADAM.

Special congrats to new recently designated Heart Safe schools - Clinton Elementary School and Rochelle Township High School!