Plan your visit
Patients travel to us from across the Midwest and from around the country. Pick the campus on your appointment letter and this page gives you that campus and nothing else — how to get there, where to park, where to stay and where to eat.
Start here
Which campus are you coming to?
Confirm the address on your appointment letter before you set off. Attending the wrong campus is the most common avoidable problem we see, and the two procedural sites are 20 miles apart.
- RUSH University Medical Center Chicago · DBS surgery
- RUSH Oak Brook Oak Brook · focused ultrasound
- RUSH Munster Munster, Indiana · clinic
- RUSH Copley Aurora · clinic
- RUSH Glenview Glenview · clinic
Chicago · Illinois Medical District
RUSH University Medical Center
Joan and Paul Rubschlager Building, 1520 W Harrison St, 6th Floor, Chicago, IL 60607. This is where deep brain stimulation surgery, neurosurgical consultations, programming and advanced imaging happen.
Traveling to RUSH
The hospital is on Harrison Street in the Illinois Medical District, just west of downtown. Chicago has two major airports — O'Hare and Midway — and neither has a clear advantage; the drive is typically 20 to 40 minutes depending on traffic.
And traffic is worth mentioning. Chicago's reputation is earned, and arriving from an airport during rush hour can take considerably longer than a map application predicts. If your schedule allows, plan around those hours. Uber and Lyft are usually the least stressful option because they remove unfamiliar streets and parking from the equation. The "L" is reliable, but on a day when you are already anxious about surgery, most patients prefer a car.
Arriving at the hospital
The Tower Building is hard to miss — a modern white building most people describe as butterfly-shaped. Enter through the main entrance and take the elevator to the 4th floor, which is the main lobby and patient check-in. Signage leads to the surgical check-in desks, and staff direct you from there to the 7th floor, where the neurosurgery operating rooms are.
On the 7th floor the DBS team meets you and brings you to the pre-operative area. You change, meet the nursing and anesthesia teams, and have an IV placed; a family member can stay with you throughout. Once you go to the operating room, your family is shown to the surgery waiting area on the same floor, where they receive text updates during the procedure.
One thing patients often notice afterward: the DBS team is small and consistent. You are not meeting a rotating cast — it is the same group, doing this together, every week.
Parking and arrival logistics
If you drive, the main patient garage is directly across Harrison Street, just south of the hospital, and is the most convenient self-parking option. Valet is available directly in front of the Tower Building and is genuinely worth it on the day of surgery; discounted valet rates are available for qualifying patients with disabilities. RUSH publishes current garage rates, valet hours and accessible parking detail.
Arrive at least 90 minutes before your scheduled surgery time. That covers parking, check-in and getting settled without feeling rushed.
Where to stay
Walking distance. The Courtyard by Marriott Chicago at Medical District / UIC, at Ashland and Harrison, is the option RUSH patients use most, and medical rates are often available. The Hyatt House Chicago Medical / University District is also walkable, in the restored historic Cook County Hospital building.
A short ride. The West Loop, five to ten minutes away, has a wide range of hotels at varying prices and a livelier neighborhood around them. Downtown and River North are 10 to 15 minutes out for a more upscale stay.
Where to eat
Taylor Street in Little Italy is a few blocks away and is the easiest place for a proper meal. Conte di Savoia is a classic Italian deli whose sandwiches are the insider recommendation; Tuscany on Taylor, Pompei and Rosebud on Taylor are the long-standing sit-down options.
A short ride east is the West Loop, now one of Chicago's busiest dining neighborhoods. Inside the hospital there is a Panera on the 4th-floor main level and a Starbucks on campus, which is what most families end up using during a long day.
If you have time in the city
There is no expectation to turn this into a trip. But the lakefront paths, the architecture river tour, the Art Institute, the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium are all close, and knowing they are there makes the visit feel less like a procedure and more like a trip that happens to include one.
Oak Brook · western suburbs
RUSH Oak Brook
2011 York Rd, 3rd Floor, Oak Brook, IL 60523. MRI-guided focused ultrasound treatment and evaluation, and outpatient movement disorders care.
Traveling to Oak Brook
Oak Brook is about 20 miles west of downtown Chicago, near several major expressways. That geography is the point: arriving from O'Hare, Midway, or driving in from Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa or downstate Illinois, you can usually skip the city centre altogether. For most patients this is a markedly less stressful trip than a downtown hospital visit.
Traffic still varies by time of day, but avoiding the downtown core makes the whole thing more predictable. Uber and Lyft are the easiest option from either airport if you would rather not drive.
Arriving at the center
Treatment takes place in the MRI suite on the main floor, directly off the lobby. The building is deliberately small — check-in, waiting areas, the MRI and recovery are all close together, which reduces walking and makes it much easier to navigate with tremor or a mobility limitation.
On the morning of a focused ultrasound treatment the center is essentially given over to it. The nursing staff, MRI personnel, neurosurgeons, neurologists and support team are there for focused ultrasound patients that day. Patients consistently describe it as calmer and more personal than they expected.
Parking
Parking is free and immediately adjacent to the building. For many patients this removes the single most stressful part of a hospital visit, and it means a family member can come and go during the day without thinking about it.
Where to stay
The Drake Oak Brook is essentially across the street from the center and is what most focused ultrasound patients use — quiet, traditional, and about as little travel stress as it is possible to have on a treatment morning.
The Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort & Conference Center sits just behind the campus in a resort-style setting with more space and amenities, still only minutes away. The wider Oak Brook area has plenty of other options at every price point.
Where to eat
The Oakbrook Center shopping and dining district is right there, which means real choice without driving into the city.
Family favorites: Maggiano's Little Italy, Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse, Antico Posto, Perry's Steakhouse & Grille, Roka Akor and Wildfire — casual through to celebratory, depending on how the day has gone.
Downtown is still there if you want it
Chicago is a 30 to 45 minute drive, so an extended stay can include the lakefront, the museums and the restaurants. Most focused ultrasound patients find they prefer having the treatment itself outside all of that.
Munster · Northwest Indiana
RUSH Munster
9200 Calumet Ave, Suite E107, Munster, IN 46321. Movement disorders consultations and follow-up visits, so that patients in Northwest Indiana do not have to drive into Chicago for routine care.
Traveling to Munster
Munster sits just over the Illinois line, and for most patients in Lake and Porter counties it is a short local drive rather than a trip. From downtown Chicago it is roughly 40 minutes without traffic, and from Midway around 30.
Arriving and parking
This is a single outpatient center rather than a hospital campus, so there is very little walking involved. Parking is on site and free, and you check in at the suite rather than at a hospital front desk. Suite E107 — it is worth noting the suite number, because the building houses several RUSH specialties.
What happens here, and what does not
Consultations and follow-up happen in Munster. Procedures do not: deep brain stimulation is performed at RUSH University Medical Center in Chicago, and focused ultrasound at RUSH Oak Brook. In practice most patients treated through this program make one or two trips into Illinois around the procedure itself and see the team in Munster for everything before and after.
Because visits here are outpatient clinic appointments, almost nobody needs to stay overnight. If you do — an early procedural appointment in Chicago the next morning, for instance — call the coordinators and plan it with them rather than booking blind.
Not sure whether to ask for Munster or Chicago?
It depends on where you are in the process, and it is a two-minute conversation. Call (312) 563-2032 or email neurofus@rush.edu.
Aurora · far western suburbs
RUSH Copley — Aurora
RUSH Neurology, 2040 Ogden Ave, Suite 401, Aurora, IL 60504. Movement disorders evaluations and neurology follow-up for patients who would otherwise drive an hour or more each way.
Traveling to Aurora
The clinic is on Ogden Avenue near the RUSH Copley campus, about 40 miles west of downtown Chicago and easily reached from I-88. For patients in Kane, Kendall and western DuPage counties this is generally the closest place to be seen.
Arriving and parking
Parking on the RUSH Copley campus is free, and complimentary valet is available during business hours. The neurology clinic is on the fourth floor of the medical office building, so check the suite number on your letter — 401 — before you go in.
What happens here
Evaluations, neurology follow-up and long-term outpatient care. The clinic works directly with the downtown neuromodulation team, so a patient seen in Aurora is discussed by the same people who would see them in Chicago. Procedures are performed in Chicago or Oak Brook.
Glenview · northern suburbs
RUSH Glenview
2601 Compass Rd, Suite 110, Glenview, IL 60026. Movement disorders consultations, follow-up care, and the long-term management of DBS and focused ultrasound patients.
Traveling to Glenview
The clinic is off Lehigh and Lake avenues, roughly 20 miles north of downtown Chicago and around 25 minutes from O'Hare. For patients on the North Shore and in the northern suburbs it is much easier than coming into the city.
Arriving and parking
There is free surface parking at the door, and the clinic is in Suite 110 on the ground floor, so there is almost no walking between the car and check-in.
What happens here
Many patients move most of their follow-up here once the procedural phase is behind them — programming reviews, medication adjustments and the routine neurology visits that continue for years. Nothing about the plan changes when the location does; the clinic stays integrated with the downtown surgical and procedural teams.
Whichever campus you are coming to
The things that apply everywhere
What to bring
Identification, insurance information, a current medication list with doses and timing, and a phone charger. Leave valuables at home. If you use a walker or a cane, bring it rather than assuming one will be available.
If you have imaging from another hospital, do not wait until the day — send it ahead. It goes up through RUSH's secure Ambra portal, and the instructions are on that page.
For family and care partners
Care partners are part of the clinical picture rather than bystanders, so bring someone if you can. They notice changes patients have stopped noticing, and they remember what was said afterward. There are waiting areas near the operative floors, food within the hospital, and the team communicates with whoever you designate during and after a procedure.
Ask before you book travel
The coordinators know which days you genuinely need to be here, how appointments can be grouped to cut the number of trips, and whether a first visit can be done by video instead. That conversation has saved a lot of people a flight.
Call (312) 563-2032 or email neurofus@rush.edu, Monday to Friday, 8:00a–5:00p CT.
Addresses, maps and what happens at each campus are on the directions and locations page.
Questions about your visit?
Our coordinators handle scheduling, records, travel timing and everything in between.