The Miller Children's & Women's Access & Transport Center has a specialized care team to safely transport infants, children, young adults and high-risk expectant mothers who need life-saving specialty care. The team provides the same level of care by ground or air transport that a child or mother would receive at Miller Children’s & Women's – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Access & Transport Center makes transferring a patient easy for patients and their families. The transport team coordinates all aspects of the transfer – securing the ambulance, arriving with the transport team and transporting the critically ill baby, child or mother to Miller Children’s & Women's.
Once here, patients will be admitted to one of our specialized critical care units, such as the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Cherese Mari Laulhere Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) or the Perinatal Special Care Unit (PSCU) in the Cherese Mari Laulhere BirthCare Center. Our in-house board-certified and-eligible hospitalists, intensivists, neonatologists and anesthesiologists are available 24/7 to deliver the highest quality of care.
Take a Journey with Our Access & Transport Center
Watch the video below to get a behind-the-scenes perspective of the transport process and meet the Transport Program team.
My Child Has Just Been Transported – Now What?
My Child Has Just Been Transported – Now What?
Your child may be transferred to Miller Children’s with the help of our dedicated Transport Program. Here are a few important things to keep in mind as you arrive:
When You Arrive
Check in at the security desk in the Miller Children’s lobby for a visitor badge. You will be given visiting information and a brief orientation by your bedside nurse that is specific to the NICU, PICU or general pediatrics. Click here for a map of Miller Children’s.
Staying Overnight
We encourage a parent or partner-in-care to stay at the bedside, if they wish.
Another option for families staying at Miller Children’s is the Southern California Ronald McDonald House®, which serve as “homes-away-from-home” for families of children undergoing treatment for cancer and other life-threatening illnesses at nearby hospitals and medical facilities, and is adjacent to Miller Children’s. They provide inexpensive, and often free, lodging for families who travel long distances while their children undergo treatment.
- $10 deposit required
- $25 - $35/night
Reservations are made through your child’s care team. For more information, please call
(562) 285-4300.
Important Phone Numbers
Important phone numbers for patients transported into Miller Children’s are:
- Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU): (562) 933-8300
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: (562) 933-8100
- General Pediatrics: (562) 933-8200
- Pediatric Hematology/Oncology: (562) 661-1300
- Miller Children’s West: (562) 933-9200
- Family Resource Center: (562) 933-8050
- Interpreting Services: (562) 933-1113
- Spiritual Care: (562) 933-1450
- Patient Ambassadors: (562) 933-9315
- Hospital Operator: (562) 933-2000
Visiting & Safety Policies
General visiting hours are from 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.
- We provide medical information to parents or legal guardians only.
- Any visitor entering the hospital will be required to check-in at the information desk with a friendly representative
- A parent/guardian of a patient will be issued a “parent” badge to aid in their multiple entries to the hospital during their child’s stay.
- All visitors (18+) must provide a valid government-issued photo ID at check-in, and will be issued a “visitor” badge that must be renewed each day they visit the hospital.
- All badges must be visible.
- Please comply with the rules and requests made by your child’s care team while visiting.
For more information, please refer to our visiting guidelines.
Parking
The visitor parking garage and lot – located off Memorial Medical Center Dr. and Atlantic Ave. – is open 24-hours a day, seven-days a week, including holidays. For more information on rates and extended parking passes, please visit our parking information page.
Parent Guide
The Transport Program at Miller Children's has a Parent Guide available for download in English
and Spanish.
NICU Transport
To ensure the safety of our smallest patients, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Miller Children’s has a dedicated transport program available 24/7. A skilled team of qualified physicians and nurses go to other nearby hospitals when a baby is in need of specialized newborn care to transport the patient to Miller Children’s.
Miller Children’s provides an expert NICU care team specializes in the care of premature and critically ill babies. The NICU is designated level III, meaning it meets strict state regulatory criteria to provide the highest level of care for very sick infants who need immediate surgery, or weight less than two pounds.
- The NICU offers in-house neonatologists available 24/7.
- Lactation consultants and lactation educators are available to help moms provide expressed breast milk and/or breastfeed your baby/babies during their hospitalization, and longer.
- Miller Children’s and the March of Dimes have collaborated to provide our NICU Parent Mentor program to help support families during their hospital stay.
PICU Transport
To ensure the safety of our patients, the Cherese Mari Laulhere Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Miller Children’s has a dedicated transport program available 24/7. A skilled team of qualified physicians and nurses go to other nearby hospitals when a child is in need of specialized pediatric care to transport the patient to Miller Children’s.
The PICU at is a nationally recognized leader in pediatric critical care. The PICU provides the best patient and family care, staffed by board-certified intensive care specialists, critical care nurses and trained respiratory specialists available 24/7.
- Miller Children’s is ranked nationally in the top 10 percentile for preventing hospital-acquired infections. Our PICU was built with evidence-based design to prevent infection.
- The PICU is recognized for its state-of-the-art therapies in head traumas, respiratory disorders and pediatric cardiac surgery.
- The PICU is undergoing expansion that, thanks to parent input, features complete private rooms with pull-out parent beds, personal nursing stations, a child-friendly family area and more.
High-Risk Maternal Transport Program
To ensure your safety and the safety of your baby, the BirthCare Center at Miller Children’s has a dedicated high-risk maternal transport program available 24/7. A skilled team of doctors and nurses specializing in high-risk pregnancies help to safely transport you and your baby to the BirthCare Center.
The BirthCare Center is a dedicated center just for women, providing compassionate, quality health care during pregnancy. It offers a comprehensive program of research, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, educational resources, maternity classes and individual and family support programs all under the same roof. Our transported moms will stay in the Perinatal Special Care Unit (PSCU).
- The Perinatal Special Care Unit houses maternal fetal specialists, neonatologists and
anesthesiologist 24/7.- The Perinatal Special Care Unit gives mom all private rooms, equipped with the latest monitoring technology and designed to provide a peaceful environment.
- Provides constant monitoring of mom and baby while the baby grows as much as possible in the stable environment of the womb.
Centers & Programs
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
We're one of 22 hospitals in California to feature a regional Level IV NICU, which is the highest designation available by the American Academy of Pediatrics. This means we have advanced capabilities, along with skilled specialists, to care for sick and critically ill, and premature babies. We treat nearly 1,200 critically ill and premature babies each year.
Your Care Team
Our Access & Transport Center care team is made up of pediatric hospitalists, intensivists, neonatologists, anesthesiologists, respiratory therapists, and registered high-risk nurses and nurses cross-trained to provide neonatal and pediatric intensive care.
Meet Our Team
Alireza Fathi, MD, MBA, FAAP
Critical Care Medicine - Pediatric
Kenneth K Chan, MD
Obstetrics & Gynecology, Perinatology
Alireza Fathi, MD, MBA, FAAP
Critical Care Medicine - Pediatric
Kenneth K Chan, MD
Obstetrics & Gynecology, Perinatology
Other Team Members
Shawna Simkins, MSN, RN, NE-BC, CCRN
- Shawna is a registered nurse and serves as the director of clinical operations for the PICU, CTICU, and Access & Transport Center at Miller Children’s & Women’s.
- She has special training in both transport and critical care nursing. Shawna is a TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer.
- Shawna is a member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, Association of California Nurse Leaders, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics section on transport medicine.
- She has served as a bedside nurse and an assistant unit manager in the PICU during her 20 years at Miller Children’s & Women’s and currently serves as the clinical operations director.
Success Stories
