Transportation to Hackensack University Medical Center
Wheelchair vans and stretcher vehicles for discharges home, recurring treatment at the John Theurer Cancer Center, cardiac follow-ups, and facility transfers — with a dispatch base in Totowa, roughly fifteen to twenty minutes from the Hackensack campus.
Getting To and From Bergen County's Busiest Hospital
Hackensack University Medical Center is the flagship hospital of Hackensack Meridian Health and one of the largest hospitals in New Jersey. Its campus in downtown Hackensack draws patients from every corner of Bergen County and well beyond — for cancer treatment at the John Theurer Cancer Center, for major cardiac and neuroscience programs, and for the everyday surgeries, admissions, and specialist visits that come with being the region's medical hub. A hospital this busy generates an enormous amount of patient movement, and much of it is exactly the kind of trip Delta Medical Transportation exists for: a scheduled, non-emergency ride for someone who cannot safely travel by car.
Delta is an independent, family-run transport company — we are not affiliated with the hospital — and our base in Totowa sits roughly fifteen to twenty minutes from the Hackensack campus. That proximity matters most on discharge day, when a floor calls at 1 PM and wants the patient picked up by 3. It also matters for the recurring riders: a radiation patient making the same trip five days a week feels every minute a driver runs late, and a short staging distance is the single best insurance against that.
We are a licensed Basic Life Support (BLS) provider running wheelchair-accessible vans and stretcher vehicles with trained, EMT-staffed two-person crews on stretcher trips, oxygen-ready vehicles, and bariatric-capable equipment. Everything we do is scheduled and non-emergency — for an emergency, call 911. Within that lane, we cover the full range of trips this hospital produces: discharges home or to rehab, recurring treatment runs, and stable facility-to-facility transfers in and out of the campus.
The Rides We Run at Hackensack UMC
Four trip types account for most of the transport this campus generates.
Discharges Home Across Bergen County
The single most common booking: a patient cleared to leave who cannot ride in a family car — post-surgical, weak after a long admission, or wheelchair-dependent. We take patients from the hospital exit to their front door anywhere in Bergen County and beyond, including through the door and up the stairs, not just to the curb.
Recurring Oncology Treatment
The John Theurer Cancer Center runs some of the busiest infusion and radiation schedules in north Jersey. Radiation is typically daily for weeks; chemotherapy repeats on a fixed cycle. We set standing schedules for the whole course so the ride is one thing the patient never has to think about.
Cardiac Discharges & Follow-Ups
Hackensack UMC's cardiac program discharges patients after procedures and cardiac events who are stable but under strict activity restrictions — no driving, limited exertion, sometimes no stairs unassisted. We handle the ride home and the cardiology follow-ups in the weeks after.
Transfers In From Community Hospitals
As the region's tertiary center, Hackensack UMC receives patients referred from smaller Bergen and Passaic County hospitals for specialty care. When the transfer is scheduled and the patient is stable, we move them by wheelchair van or stretcher, coordinating with case managers at both facilities.
John Theurer Cancer Center: Transport Built Around a Treatment Calendar
Cancer treatment is where transport to this hospital stops being an errand and becomes infrastructure. A patient in a five-week radiation course makes roughly twenty-five round trips to the same campus. An infusion patient may sit in the chair for hours and come out fatigued, nauseated, and in no condition to navigate a parking garage — which is why so many families discover, a week or two into treatment, that driving themselves was never a sustainable plan. Parking near a downtown hospital campus adds cost and stress on every single visit, and a working caregiver cannot burn a vacation day for each session.
Our answer is a standing schedule. Give us the treatment calendar once and we build the rides around it: the same pickup window each morning, a driver who learns the patient's pace, and a return leg planned with slack in it, because infusions run long more often than they run short. If a session gets moved, one phone call updates the whole arrangement. Patients who become too weak to sit for the ride can switch the same standing order to a stretcher vehicle without starting over with a new company. For more on how we handle treatment-day logistics, see our chemotherapy transport page.
A practical booking tip that regular John Theurer riders learn quickly: the campus is large, so tell us the department you are visiting — infusion, radiation oncology, or a clinic visit — when you book. Drop-off points differ, and knowing the destination inside the campus lets the driver plan the door, not just the address.
Cardiac Discharges — and the Bergen County Walk-Up Problem
Hackensack UMC's cardiac program sends home a steady stream of patients who are stable but restricted: no driving for weeks after a procedure, limited exertion, and often explicit orders to avoid stairs without help. In much of Bergen County that last instruction collides with reality. Hackensack itself, along with Garfield, Lodi, Wallington, Cliffside Park, and Fairview, is full of two- and three-story walk-up apartment buildings with narrow staircases and no elevator. A discharge plan that ends at the curb leaves the hardest thirty feet of the trip to the family.
We plan for the staircase before the ride starts. When you book, we ask about the home: which floor, how many steps, interior or exterior stairs, and whether there's a landing to turn on. Our crews carry stair-chair equipment and are trained to bring a patient up or down safely — no relative improvising a carry, no patient white-knuckling a banister two days after a cardiac procedure. The same capability covers the reverse trip a few weeks later, when the cardiology follow-up requires getting back down those stairs. Read more on our stair chair assistance page.
One honest boundary: we transport stable patients and we do not provide medical care in the vehicle. If a cardiac patient's condition requires monitoring or intervention en route, that is a conversation for the discharge team about higher-level transport — and we will say so rather than take a trip that isn't ours to take.
How Discharge Day Actually Works
Discharge timing at a hospital this size is a moving target. The physician rounds and signs the order, nursing completes final checks, pharmacy fills take-home medications, and the projected "late morning" departure becomes mid-afternoon. We build our process around that unpredictability rather than pretending it away. Call us as soon as a discharge date is anticipated — even before the hour is confirmed — and we reserve the vehicle and crew, then flex the actual pickup time as the floor finalizes paperwork. Our dispatch stays reachable by phone throughout, so when the nurse says "ready," the van is minutes away, not an hour out.
Being based in Totowa, a short drive from the Hackensack campus, is our structural advantage on these trips. Same-day requests that would be a stretch for a company staging from central Jersey are routine for us, and a slipped discharge time costs the family far less waiting. We coordinate directly with discharge planners and case managers on mobility level, equipment, oxygen, and destination details — home, an inpatient rehab facility, or a skilled-nursing facility anywhere in the region — so nothing is discovered for the first time at the bedside.
For Hackensack UMC Case Managers & Discharge Planners
If you place patients from this campus regularly, one call to (973) 389-3110 sets up an account so your team isn't re-explaining requirements on every referral. We handle the cases wheelchair-van-only companies decline — stretcher, bariatric, oxygen-dependent, and walk-up buildings — and we confirm pickup windows directly with your floor.
Where Our Hackensack UMC Riders Come From
As Bergen County's hub hospital, Hackensack UMC pulls patients from nearly every town in the county — and our routes reflect it. We pick up daily across Bergen County, from Hackensack itself — where many trips are under ten minutes but involve exactly the walk-up buildings described above — to Teaneck and Paramus, whose senior communities and rehab facilities generate constant traffic to and from the campus. Passaic County riders are close behind: our Totowa base means towns like Paterson, Clifton, and Wayne are on the natural path to Hackensack.
Outside these areas? We cover all of New Jersey — call and we'll confirm your route.
What a Trip to Hackensack UMC Costs
There is no single price, because no two trips are the same. What moves the number: the distance from your pickup address to the campus; whether the patient rides in a wheelchair van or needs a stretcher vehicle with a two-person crew; stairs at the home; oxygen during the ride; whether the driver waits and returns or comes back for a scheduled pickup; and time of day. Recurring treatment schedules are priced as a series, which typically works out better per trip than booking each ride separately.
Wheelchair-van trips cost meaningfully less than stretcher trips, and both are priced by the factors above — our NJ cost guide and stretcher cost guide break down typical ranges. The only number that matters is the one for your actual trip, and that quote is free, all-in, and takes a few minutes by phone.
Hackensack UMC Transport — Frequently Asked Questions
How do I book a ride to Hackensack University Medical Center?
Call (973) 389-3110 with the pickup address, the appointment or discharge time, and the patient's mobility level — walks with assistance, uses a wheelchair, or needs a stretcher. For appointments, we recommend booking a day or more ahead; for discharges, call as soon as a discharge date is anticipated, even before the exact hour is confirmed, and we will adjust the pickup time as the floor finalizes paperwork.
Can you handle a same-day discharge from Hackensack UMC?
Often, yes. Our base in Totowa is a short drive from Hackensack, which makes same-day dispatch to this hospital more realistic for us than for companies staging farther away. Availability is not guaranteed at every hour, so call the moment the care team mentions discharge — the earlier we know, the more certain the pickup.
Do you provide recurring transportation to the John Theurer Cancer Center?
Yes. Radiation courses often run five days a week for several weeks, and chemotherapy infusions repeat on a fixed cycle. We set up a standing schedule for the full course of treatment so you are not calling to rebook before every session, and we plan the return leg around the fact that infusion times can run long.
Is this an ambulance service? Can you provide medical care during the ride?
Delta is a licensed Basic Life Support (BLS) provider offering scheduled, non-emergency ground transportation with trained, two-person crews on stretcher trips. We do not provide paramedic-level (ALS) care, do not have nurses on board, and do not treat patients in transit. Patients must be medically stable for the ride. For a medical emergency, always call 911.
What does a ride to or from Hackensack UMC cost?
It depends on the distance, whether the patient needs a wheelchair van or a stretcher vehicle, stairs at the home, oxygen, wait-and-return time, and time of day. As a rough market anchor, local wheelchair-van trips in north Jersey are often quoted in the low-to-mid hundreds of dollars round trip and stretcher trips higher — those are typical market figures, not Delta's rate card. Call (973) 389-3110 and we will quote your exact trip for free in a few minutes.
My parent lives in a second-floor walk-up. Can you get them downstairs?
Yes. A large share of the housing in Hackensack, Garfield, Lodi, and the surrounding boroughs is two- and three-story walk-up buildings with no elevator. Our crews bring stair-chair equipment and are trained to move patients up and down staircases safely. Tell us about the stairs when you book so we send the right crew and gear.
Can you transfer a patient into Hackensack UMC from another hospital or a nursing facility?
Yes. We handle scheduled, facility-to-facility transfers into and out of Hackensack UMC — from community hospitals, skilled-nursing facilities, and rehab centers — by wheelchair van or stretcher, coordinating timing with case managers at both ends. These are non-emergency transfers for stable patients; emergent transfers are arranged by the hospitals themselves.
Is Delta affiliated with Hackensack University Medical Center?
No. Delta Medical Transportation is an independent, family-run New Jersey transport company. We regularly carry patients to and from Hackensack UMC, but we are not owned by, endorsed by, or affiliated with the hospital or Hackensack Meridian Health. That independence means we work for you — the patient, family, or facility that books the ride.
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