Advocate Children's Hospital debuts new custom designed 'ICU on wheels' ambulance

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A local hospital is showing off its new "ICU on wheels."

Advocate Children's hospital is debuting its new custom-built ambulance designed to provide the best transportation care for kids.

It features a monitor in the cab so parents can watch a live feed of their children in the back. It also has top-of-the-line brakes, shocks, and air conditioning to ensure a smooth and stable ride.

"Infants and children with severe and sudden illnesses and injuries need an ambulance with everything carefully designed to care for them in the safest conditions possible. This ambulance is the result of countless hours of planning and design to make sure we provide the safe specialized care our patients need," said Irma Guevara, the manager of the Advocate Children's Hospital Neonatal/Pediatric Transport Team.

Guevara's team is the only pediatric/neonatal transport team in the state of Illinois with the capabilities and training to transport patients requiring Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), a life-support machine for patients with severe and life-threatening illness that stops their heart or lungs from working properly.

Doctors say there is a lot to consider when transporting babies and Advocate said it is on track to do more than 5,000 transports this year.