Surgery & procedure transportation.
After sedation or anesthesia, you can’t safely drive — and most facilities won’t discharge you without transportation arranged. We get you there on time and bring you home with door-through-door care, so the day is one less thing to worry about.
Any anesthesia or sedation means you can’t drive yourself home.
Surgery centers and clinics require pre-arranged transportation — and often a responsible adult to receive your discharge instructions and stay with you afterward. We make the transportation part simple and dependable, so it’s one less thing on your mind going in.
Staying overnight in the hospital instead? See hospital discharge transportation.
Not medical or legal advice — always follow your facility’s discharge instructions.
No Driving That Day
Anesthesia or sedation rules out driving, machinery, or heading home alone.
Pre-Arranged Transportation
Surgery centers won’t discharge you until transportation home is arranged and confirmed.
Often a Responsible Adult
Someone to receive your discharge instructions and stay with you afterward.
Outpatient & same-day visits, handled.
If you’ll be sedated for it, we can get you there and home again. A few of the visits we cover most:
Endoscopy & Colonoscopy
Sedation means a ride home is required
Oral & Dental Surgery
Extractions, implants
Cataract & Eye Procedures
Vision may be blurred afterward
Pain-Management Injections
Nerve blocks, epidurals
Outpatient & Ambulatory Surgery
Same-day surgery centers
Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery
Private & discreet
A course of treatments under anesthesia, like ECT? We hold a standing schedule for the whole course — see Dialysis & Recurring transportation. Not sure whether your appointment qualifies? Call (847) 585-8888.
Can’t sit upright? A bed-to-bed transfer may be the better fit.
If your loved one can’t sit upright, needs a two-person (2x) assist, or uses a mechanical (Hoyer) lift, our Stretcher-Alternative transportation is likely the better fit. The chair reclines lie-flat and raises to bed height, and we slide your loved one across on a slide sheet we bring. We send one or two Transportation Specialists, depending on the need.
See Stretcher-Alternative Transportation
Have this ready and the call goes quickly.
Book a few days ahead when you can. Same-day and next-morning trips are often possible too — dispatch is staffed 24/7. Walking in, or riding in a wheelchair? Tell us at booking and we send the right vehicle.
- Procedure date & time
- Facility name & address — plus the suite or unit
- Expected discharge window, if known
- Whether you’d like Wait & Return
Scheduling for a surgery center or clinic? See how we partner with facilities.
Book Procedure Transport
2-Min QuoteThere, back, and all the way to your door.
The whole day, start to finish — including the two ways we handle the trip home when discharge timing is unpredictable.
We Take You There
Door-through-door pickup, on time, in a clean, accessible vehicle — we come inside to get you, not honk from the curb.
The Return Is Easy
Discharge timing is unpredictable, so most procedure trips use one of two options:
Will-Call Return — the Default
Call us the moment you’re cleared to go and a Transportation Specialist comes back for you. Wait time (after the appointment) may be up to 60–90 minutes during peak times. Rainbow Road Transport will do its best to pick up the client as early as possible.
Wait & Return — Optional Paid Add-On
Instead of will-call, your Specialist stays nearby and brings you home right after, so there’s no waiting on a pickup. Requested at booking, subject to availability and dispatcher approval, and billed separately — it isn’t included in the standard transport.
Gentle Help, All the Way Inside
You may be groggy — we come inside the facility to get you and help you all the way inside your home, not just to the curb.
We Can Be Your Escort
Where your facility permits, your Transportation Specialist serves as your accompanying adult, receives your discharge instructions, and sees you safely home.
The trips this service is for.
No family available? We can be your escort home.
Where your facility permits a professional escort, your Rainbow Road Transport Transportation Specialist serves as your accompanying adult.
Your Accompanying Adult
Where a professional escort is permitted, your Specialist fills the role.
Receives Discharge Instructions
We take down what the facility sends you home with.
Sees You Safely Home
Door-through-door — not just dropped at the curb.
Good to know
Some surgery centers require a family member or friend for anesthesia discharge — confirm your facility’s escort policy when you schedule, so the day goes smoothly.
Rainbow Road Transport provides transportation and non-clinical assistance — not medical or post-operative care — for these ground trips.
Hospitals, facilities & care teams we work with.
- Endeavor Health
- Advocate Health Care
- Northwestern Medicine
- Loyola Medicine
- Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
- Ascension
- Rush
- UI Health
- Cook County Health
- UChicago Medicine AdventHealth
- Illinois Bone & Joint Institute
- OrthoIllinois
- Lutheran Home (Lutheran Life Communities)
- New Summit Rehabilitation & Healthcare
- Thrive · New Summit Rehabilitation & Healthcare
- Presbyterian Homes (Presbyterian Living)
- Lake Forest Place (Presbyterian Living)
- Westminster Place (Presbyterian Living)
- The Moorings (Presbyterian Living)
- Legacy Healthcare
- Avantara
- Bella Terra
- Warren Barr
- Pearl Healthcare
- Elevate Care
- Alden Network
- Fresenius Kidney Care
- DaVita
Across all of Illinois.
Headquartered in Schaumburg, with a six-county Chicagoland core — and procedure transportation across all of Illinois, plus long-distance trips to and from other states. See the full service area. Don’t see your surgery center? Call (847) 585-8888 — we likely cover it.
- 40,000+ trips completed
- 98% on-time
- 8 accessible vans, and growing
- 2022 serving since
Door-through-Door Service
Help from inside the home to inside the appointment and back — not just curb to curb.
Certified & Insured in Illinois
Certified and insured under the State of Illinois, across the whole fleet.
Eco-Friendly Hybrid Fleet
Wheelchair-accessible Toyota Sienna Hybrids with ramps, four-point tie-downs, and seatbelts.
PASS - Certified Transportation Specialists
Trained in Passenger Assistance, Safety, and Sensitivity — for every passenger.
Questions we hear most
Still unsure? Call (847) 585-8888 and we’ll walk you through it.
Almost always, yes. If you receive any anesthesia or sedation, you can’t safely drive, operate machinery, or head home alone — and most surgery centers won’t discharge you until transportation home is arranged and confirmed.
We make that part simple: a background-checked Transportation Specialist gets you there on time and brings you home, door through door.
Where your facility permits a professional escort, your Transportation Specialist can serve as your accompanying adult: they receive your discharge instructions and see you safely home.
Some surgery centers still require a family member or friend for anesthesia discharge, so confirm your facility’s policy when you schedule.
We provide transportation and non-clinical assistance — not medical or post-operative care.
Two ways.
The default is a will-call return: you call the moment you’re cleared and a Specialist comes back for you. Wait time may be up to 60–90 minutes during peak times, and we do our best to pick you up as early as possible.
Or add Wait & Return — an optional paid add-on, billed separately — and your Specialist stays nearby and brings you home right after, with no waiting on a pickup.
Then our Stretcher-Alternative transportation is likely the better fit.
A fully-reclining chair travels lie-flat and raises to bed height, and we slide your loved one across on a slide sheet we bring — a gentle bed-to-bed transfer on each end, with one or two Transportation Specialists depending on the need.
A few days ahead when you can, so we can confirm the right vehicle and Transportation Specialists for your discharge window.
Same-day and next-morning procedure transport is often possible too — dispatch is staffed 24/7, so call and we’ll do our best to fit you in.
Book transport to and from your procedure.
Tell us the day and a clear quote comes back — or call dispatch directly. Transportation is scheduled 24/7.