THE CHILDREN WIN!!

For the past four years, there have been continuous community meetings in Chicago on whether the plans for the new Robert H. Lurie’s Children’s Hospital could include a helipad and the safety issues involved with having helicopters flying over Lake Michigan.  As I wrote on March 9^th of this year, the evil Michigan Avenue residents (with the exception of me) believed they owned the sky and did not want the heliport.  I know the real reason was that the snobby condo owners were concerned about the noise of helicopters flying by their high rise windows.  I am happy to report that last week, the children won, and the wealthy condo owners lost when the Illinois Department of Transportation approved the heliport.

What I have found ludicrous about the fight is that it’s even possible that residents would think that a heliport would be approved if major safety studies had not been done. Children's Memorial Hospital, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the City of Chicago and a slew of aviation experts did extensive studies on the safety of the heliport.  They all concluded that the hospital’s heliport plans EXCEED any safety requirement for the operation of a heliport. This video  clearly explains how all safety issues had been resolved, but the wicked residents persisted in their battle.

If safety were an issue for the helicopter flights, why did the city allow helicopters to swoop up and down Michigan Avenue during the shooting of the Transformers movie?  That certainly had to have been a lot more dangerous than helicopters coming in from the direction of Lake Michigan and landing on the hospital roof.

The importance of the helipad was clearly explained by hospital:

(1)  The heliport will be used to receive critically ill and injured children who cannot be transported by ground transportation without threat to the life or condition, and for time-critical organ transplantation.

(2)  Heliport transports to the future rooftop heliport will be used for pediatric treatment of Children’s Memorial patients only.


(3)  Annually, an average of 73 seriously ill or injured children and five organs for life-saving transplantation are transported by helicopter to our Lincoln Park location. 

(4)  Children are only brought from other hospitals – never from the scene of accidents.


(5) Doctors have concluded that using an off-site heliport could result in serious harm to the child being transported because of the additional time and physical movement of the medically fragile child.

The statement giving the thumbs up for the helipad issued by Dr. Susan Shea, IDOT Director of Aviation said, “After a comprehensive review, I am confident that the application submitted by Ann & Robert H. Lurie’s Children’s Hospital meets or exceeds all legal and safety requirements needed for a certificate of approval from the State of Illinois.”  Since most government officials like to pussyfoot around to cover their ass later on, Shea’s statement of “confidence” is refreshing.

The approval for the heliport was opposed by the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR), the non-profit community group with vocal hatred of the heliport. The group has said they planned to appeal the approval.

I said in one of the community hearings about the helipad, “Once the heliport is built, if I hear the noise of a helicopter, it means the life of a child is being saved.”  Nothing else really matters.