Region III Medical Ambulance Bus Visits Sinai
Last month Sinai Hospital coordinated with the Howard County Fire Department to host a site visit to determine the sufficient clearance that is needed for both on-site parking and safe navigation of the bus medical ambulance through campus driveways. The site visit was done to provide ER-7 staff the opportunity to tour the bus. The visit was attended by members of the Sinai Emergency Preparedness Committee, the Baltimore City and County Fire Departments and the Baltimore City Police Department.
Maryland Region III (Baltimore Metro Region) is the home of two new medical ambulance buses housed within the Howard and Anne Arundel County Fire Departments. The Region III medical ambulance buses support the critical need for response and recovery capabilities for mass casualties. These buses can be deployed to major incidents where multiple patients are present or expected, and can be used in multiple ways that benefit both the pre-hospital transportation system, as well as Region III healthcare facilities. The units can act in a stationary capacity as a field hospital, treatment center or alternatively, they can be used to transport multiple stretcher patients from one scene to the next definitive point of care. The buses can also be a significant asset in the event of a health care facility evacuation.
While basic life support (BLS) patients will primarily be transported, the buses are also retro-fitted with advanced life support (ALS) capabilities, specifically monitoring equipment for pre-hospital or inter-hospital transportation capabilities. In addition, each bus can hold 20 stretchers, as well as additional ambulatory patients that can be seated on benches. All patient stations include an oxygen port. Numerous wheelchair patients can also be accommodated.
In addition, the bus is equipped with a generator, which allows it to maintain power to all equipment while moving patients on or off. However, in an effort to eliminate the backflow of exhaust fumes into the ER-7, a special electrical outlet will be installed outside the ambulance entrance as an alternate power source for the bus.
Looking at lessons learned from the devastating May 2011 tornado in Joplin, Missouri, we see that St. John’s Regional Medical Center was supported by single ambulances and school buses; nurses and patients were transported on the back of pickup trucks. As an alternative, the Region III medical ambulance buses provide a safe, consolidated method of transporting both ambulatory and non-ambulatory patients to definitive points of care, which in turn reduces the amount of stress experience by local EMS resources.