Chicago’s First…
The University of Chicago Aeromedical Network (UCAN) is the air medical transport service of the University of Chicago Medical Center. UCAN provides rapid stabilization and transport to critically ill or injured neonatal, pediatric and adult patients from the scene of an emergency or during interhospital transfer.
UCAN is staffed by a dedicated team of specially trained flight nurses, flight physicians, EMS pilots and communications specialists, is ready to respond to your transport needs 24 hours a day.
UCAN was the first hospital-based air medical transport program in the Chicago area. The program which was initiated in December 1983, is based on a roof top helipad above the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCH), Bernard A. Mitchell inpatient facility. UCAN extends the tertiary care capabilities of UCH, which offers comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic care in specialties and sub-specialties in the medical, surgical, pediatric, neonatal and obstetrical fields.
For the sixth year in a row, the University of Chicago Medical Center has been selected as one of the best 17 hospitals in the United States by U.S. News & World Report (July 22, 2002) in their annual survey of America’s more than 6,000 hospitals. In addition, The University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital is designated as a Level I pediatric trauma center.
First, Safe…
UCAN flies within a 200-mile radius of Chicago serving as a vital link to the medical community in and around the Chicago area. UCAN connects small community hospitals in a four-state area with the many tertiary care facilities and medical resource centers the Chicago region has to offer. For greater distances, UCAN arranges medically staffed and equipped air transport by airplane
The twin-engine Dauphin 2 helicopter flies at speeds up to 180 miles per hour and is capable of transporting two patients and a medical crew of three. The customized aircraft configuration, medical interior, medical equipment and crew enable UCAN to provide the most comprehensive patient care for the various emergency medical transports.
UCAN’s full-time aviation staff, consisting of four experienced EMS pilots and two mechanics, maintains the helicopter on a daily basis to meet the demanding needs of medical missions. UCAN pilots have accumulated over 29,000 hours of helicopter flight time collectively, during their total of 114 years of flying. UCAN also has two full-time mechanics who have accumulated over 40 years of aviation maintenance experience. Nearly 28 of these collective years have been with UCAN.
UCAN Control is the 24-hour communications center for UCAN. The communication specialists coordinate all aspects of each transport to the University of Chicago Medical Center or to other receiving facilities. For inter-hospital transports, the communication specialist can assist a referring physician facility in finding an available tertiary care bed and accepting physician if an appropriate receiving facility has not yet been determined. This allows the referring physician and staff the time to care for their patient(s) until the UCAN flight crew arrives.
From the scene of an emergency, UCAN transports patients to the closest, most appropriate facility, as determined by the EMS system or established trauma region protocols.