Carle Health’s Arrow Ambulance service has added a brand-new critical care transport ambulance. The new vehicle, which went into service in early January, is designed to provide ICU-level care for critically injured and ill patients during interfacility transfers. It replaces an aging unit and continues Arrow’s six-year ground critical care transport operation.
Unlike standard 911 ambulances that respond to emergency calls, this unit strictly transports high-risk patients between hospitals who require higher levels of care.
“Standard 911 ambulances can handle a wide range of emergencies, including critical care situations,” said Dr. Michael Smith, professor in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and associate medical director for Carle Regional EMS and Arrow Ambulance. “The way the new vehicle differs is in size and technology that allows us to extend very complex medical procedures and life support beyond the walls of the hospital.”
While some critically ill patients require air transport, many can be safely transferred by ground — a process that requires specialized teams and equipment. Arrow Ambulance has provided high-acuity transport since 2018. The service provides advanced treatment and patient monitoring with the facilities necessary to do so.
Long-distance transfers can strain EMS resources, Smith noted. A trip from Champaign to St. Louis or Chicago can take an ambulance out of service for several hours, reducing availability for emergency calls.
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“Every ambulance system in America is set up to meet basic expected demand,” Smith said. “When you get the challenge — when you get the multiple-patient car crash, a flu outbreak, and now you’ve got a whole bunch of people accessing the 911 system simultaneously — that surge constrains resources.”
To balance 911 response and interfacility transfers, Arrow operates ambulances in three categories: 911 emergencies, transfers and rotation between both depending on demand.
Interfacility transfers are a vital but often overlooked part of EMS. While 911 responses may get more public attention, moving critical patients between facilities is equally essential.
A 2011 study in the Journal of Critical Care found that mobile intensive care units with specialized retrieval teams reduce risks while transferring critically ill patients. Carle’s new ambulance aims to improve transport outcomes compared to standard ambulances.
Smith said critical transfers require more than just getting a patient from one place to another; they involve continuous care in a moving environment.
“The ability to have more space and more advanced technology moving from point A to point B makes that transfer between facilities much safer,” Smith said.
Employee donations through the Carle Health Center for Philanthropy made acquiring this ambulance possible.
“That’s one of the big advantages of a privately funded EMS system as opposed to public,” Smith said. “You can imagine what a vehicle like this might cost if it was the Chicago Fire Department running the service — that’s all going to go into tax dollars. Here, it was funded through philanthropic giving from employees, and that’s a story we’re really proud to tell.”
While the new ambulance provides an updated platform for critical transport, Smith said the true impact comes from the highly trained paramedics, nurses and EMTs who staff it.
“As impressive as this vehicle is, that’s the subtitle rather than the headline,” Smith said. “What I think is the most important of this is not the metal and rubber on the wheels; it’s the people we put inside.”
