South Dakota long distance medical transport to or from anywhere in the state, from Sioux Falls to the Black Hills: a real bed, a medical pro aboard, family along.
Answered 24/7 · South Dakota trips often scheduled within days
One of you lives in Minneapolis, and a parent lives outside Aberdeen, 293 road miles away. Or the hospital is in Rochester, home of Mayo Clinic, and home is a house in Sioux Falls, 237 miles down the road. We drive those trips in both directions. South Dakota is also long enough that some trips never leave it. Rapid City and Sioux Falls are 347 road miles apart on I-90, so a family in the Black Hills can be farther from Sioux Falls than Sioux Falls is from the Twin Cities. Those miles are hard on someone who can't sit up in a car. With us, your loved one makes the whole drive lying in a real bed, and a medical professional rides with them from the first room to the last.
Nationwide Long Distance Medical Transport
To and from South Dakota, state to state, bed to bed
Families usually call us for this when:
We can start from a hospital in Mitchell, a nursing home in Yankton or a house at the end of a gravel road near Mobridge. The trip finishes at the next bed, anywhere in the lower 48.
And the same trip the other way, when:
We pick up in any of the lower 48 and drive to their bed here. That could be a Sioux Falls hospital, a care center in Aberdeen or the family place on the far side of the Missouri.
Our crew and our Mercedes Sprinter do every trip, whichever side of the Missouri it starts on. If you can't name what you need, that's fine. Tell us about your loved one on the phone, and we'll tell you which of these fits.
Watertown and Minneapolis are 204 road miles apart, just over our minimum. Aberdeen and Minneapolis are 293. If your loved one is in a hospital at one end and the family is at the other, we meet them at the bedside and stay with them until they're settled in the next bed. The other end can be anywhere in the lower 48.
Spearfish to Minneapolis is 619 road miles, a long way for anyone who can't sit up, whichever end they start from. Your loved one lies flat on a memory-foam mattress in a real bed for all of it. Nobody spends that drive strapped to a gurney in the back of a bare van.
Perhaps Dad can't run the place near Pierre alone any longer, and your spare room in Rochester is ready. Perhaps Mom wants to come back to Yankton to be near her sister. Our crews work with dementia and anxiety every week, so nobody rushes your parent out the door.
For some families the last wish is the ranch. For others it's a daughter's house over the line in Minnesota. We bring your loved one there in either direction, with comfort first, and we work with the hospice team before we leave.
Moving a larger patient between a Pierre hospital and Rochester, 452 road miles either way, can't depend on who happens to be around to lift. We arrive with a purpose-equipped vehicle, a lift and stretcher rated for bariatric patients, and a trained crew, so your loved one keeps their dignity at both doors.
Has anyone quoted you a flight between Rapid City and Rochester? By road it's 576 miles. If your loved one is stable, driving it costs a fraction of that bill, and family can come along. A plane also needs a ground ride at each end. Our van doesn't.
South Dakota's major medical centers sit at opposite ends of the state. In Sioux Falls, Sanford USD Medical Center is a Level I adult trauma center with a heart hospital connected to it, and its cancer center has been a regional referral center since 1982. Avera, the system behind Avera McKennan, began its kidney transplant program in 1993 and runs hospitals in Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska as well. Out west, Monument Health says it serves an area that covers 400 miles, through western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. If a specialist here has offered your loved one a date, we can bring them from a bed in another state to the admitting door, and home again when treatment ends.
Example trip
Duluth, MN ↔ Sioux Falls390 road mi
Example trip
Bemidji, MN ↔ Sioux Falls364 road mi
Example trip
St. Cloud, MN ↔ Sioux Falls222 road mi
Example trip
Minneapolis, MN ↔ Rapid City575 road mi
These four are examples, and we aren't affiliated with any of them. We also drive to other hospitals, rehab centers and homes across the state. Mileage runs from city center to city center.
We pick up and deliver at hospital rooms, nursing homes, assisted living and ranch houses all over South Dakota, and any of these trips can run either way. The distances surprise people from out of state. Spearfish to Sioux Falls is 391 road miles without ever crossing a state line, and Mobridge to Sioux Falls is 303. Give us the address, even if it's a long way from I-90 or I-29.
Major hospitals nearby
Example trip, either direction
Sioux Falls ↔ Rochester, MN237 road mi
Major hospitals nearby
Example trip, either direction
Rapid City ↔ Minneapolis, MN575 road mi
Major hospitals nearby
Example trip, either direction
Aberdeen ↔ Minneapolis, MN293 road mi
Major hospitals nearby
Example trip, either direction
Watertown ↔ Rochester, MN260 road mi
Major hospitals nearby
Example trip, either direction
Pierre ↔ Rochester, MN452 road mi
Major hospitals nearby
Example trip, either direction
Mitchell ↔ St. Cloud, MN286 road mi
Major hospitals nearby
Example trip, either direction
Spearfish ↔ Minneapolis, MN619 road mi
Major hospitals nearby
Example trip, either direction
Yankton ↔ Duluth, MN468 road mi
Each example runs in both directions. Mileage is city center to city center, and your quote uses the two real addresses.
One call and we handle everything, and you'll have a real number today.
One address might be Monument Health in Rapid City and the other a house in Minneapolis, or the reverse. Send them by phone or on the quote form, and you'll have a single price for the whole trip that same day.
A case manager in Sioux Falls may want a bed cleared by Friday. A hospital in Rochester may be ready to send Dad home to Watertown. Pass the date along. We often schedule within days, and we plan the trip backward from that deadline.
They move your loved one from the hospital bed, or the bed at home, into a real bed on a Mercedes Sprinter. The medical professional stays with them all the way, and one family member is welcome aboard.
Rapid City to Rochester is 576 road miles, and Spearfish to Minneapolis is longer. Two drivers trade off on routes like those, so the van keeps rolling while your loved one rests.
I-90 runs about 413 miles east to west: Sioux Falls, Mitchell, Chamberlain, Murdo, Wall, Rapid City, Spearfish. I-29 runs about 253 miles north to south along the eastern side, through Sioux Falls, Brookings and Watertown. Between them, trips lean on US highways. US-83 comes down through Pierre and meets I-90 near Vivian. US-12 links Mobridge and Aberdeen to Minneapolis. US-212 heads east from Watertown to the Minneapolis suburbs, and US-85 serves Lead, Deadwood, Spearfish and Belle Fourche.
The Missouri River splits the state in two, and most people here live east of it. Sioux Falls and Pierre are on Central Time. Rapid City is on Mountain Time, and I-90 changes clocks at the Jones County line, west of Murdo. So a 10 a.m. discharge means different things in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. When a case manager gives you a time, ask which clock they mean, then pass it on to us.
In October 2013, the storm South Dakotans call the Cattleman's Blizzard dropped close to two feet of snow on Rapid City and 58 inches at Lead, and more than 200 miles of I-90 closed from South Dakota into Wyoming. If your date falls anywhere from fall to spring, give the schedule some room. We follow the forecast and move the trip if the road isn't safe. The state's SD511 site shows closures.
The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally starts the first Friday in August and runs 10 days. The state counted about 458,000 vehicle crossings around Sturgis during the 2023 rally, and I-90 runs right past town. If your pickup or drop-off is in the Northern Hills that week, let us know early, so the extra time for the last few miles goes into the plan.
Most of the state's reservations are West River, and towns there can sit a long way from an interstate. Pine Ridge is 93 road miles from Rapid City and 355 from Sioux Falls. Eagle Butte, on the Cheyenne River Reservation, is 166 from Rapid City. Mission, on the Rosebud Reservation, is 211 from Sioux Falls. We can pick up or drop off at a clinic or a home on reservation land, as long as the trip clears our 200-mile minimum. Describe the road in when you call.
Arizona and the Rio Grande Valley both fill with retirees getting away from the snow. If your parent gets sick down there, home is a long way off. Phoenix to Sioux Falls is 1,438 road miles, and McAllen, Texas, to Rapid City is 1,443. A January discharge can also mean arriving in South Dakota weather. Give us the date, and we'll plan the drive around the roads at the north end.
You'll get one number for the whole trip, and that's the number you pay. These six things move it up or down, whether we're leaving a ranch near Wall or pulling up to a hospital in Sioux Falls.
Road miles come first. Anything under 200 miles is too short for us, so Mitchell to Sioux Falls at 73 is out, and Aberdeen to Sioux Falls at 204 is in. The cost per mile drops on long routes, so a 1,000-mile trip won't cost five times a 200-mile trip.
A stable patient who needs a bed and someone keeping an eye on them costs less to move. Continuous oxygen, or a lift and stretcher rated for bariatric patients, adds to the quote.
A trip like Rapid City to Rochester takes two drivers trading shifts, plus the medical professional. That's more people on the clock than a run from Aberdeen to Minneapolis might need, and the price reflects it.
More notice usually means a lower price than a van leaving tomorrow. If you're booking a January trip on I-90, call early and leave some slack around your date.
A hospital loading dock in Sioux Falls is simple. A ranch house with steps and a long gravel lane is a different pickup. Tell us about the road in, the stairs and the door widths at both ends.
We load oxygen, a specialty mattress or bariatric equipment when your loved one needs it. If they don't, it doesn't go on the van.
Private pay: your family pays us directly by card, check or bank transfer. CareCredit financing is available, and we offer veteran discounts.
Recent reviews from families we've driven across the lower 48.
“Everyone I spoke with at ACC Medlink was helpful. They provided clear information and were flexible when the pick up location needed to change due to a hospitalization. The crew was friendly and kind. They provided wonderful care and kept me updated.”
“We had a long transport across the country and the team did a great job with loading my mother into the vehicle, keeping her comfortable, and keeping us on schedule. Sandra was excellent at understanding and anticipating my mother’s needs and provided great care and med management through the trip…”
“The patience, professionalism, and communication of this crew were absolutely amazing. I would recommend them to anyone needs transportation for a loved one.”
More than 10 million patient miles since 2010
From verified post-trip surveys of families we have carried
A qualified medical professional on every trip
Don't see yours? Call. A real person on our team answers, day or night.
Maybe it's Dad's ranch outside Wall and your home in Minneapolis. Maybe it's a Rochester hospital and a house in Sioux Falls. Send us both addresses. You'll have one price today, and we'll plan the whole drive, from one bed to the other.
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Home for Thanksgiving
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