THEN YOU ORDER ONE.  BUT WHAT IF YOU NEED 300 AMBULANCES?  If you’re the head of the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia, then you just go ahead and order 300 of them.

The Kingdom’s current ambulance fleet needs replacing, so they have ordered 300 GMC Savannah’s which will be converted into an ambulance configuration.  The Arab News reports:

“These state-of-the-art ambulances will be fully equipped to meet emergencies,” Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie said, adding that the new fleet will be deployed in the Kingdom’s 20 health regions.

Abdullah Al-Subaie, chairman of the Transport Division at the Ministry of Health, said this was the single largest spending by the ministry on ambulances. “An agreement has already been signed and the vehicles will be supplied over a period of nine months,” he said.

Al-Subaie said the supplier would be responsible for servicing and maintaining the vehicles for 10 years.

“They will be equipped with all necessary apparatus for medics and paramedics for treating patients,” he said, adding that the ambulances would carry the Ministry of Health’s name and the name of the region where they will serve.

TWO AIR AMBULANCES, BOTH BELL 407 HELICOPTERS, COLLIDED IN THE AIR near a hospital in Flagstaff, Arizona, Sunday afternoon.

Flagstaff firefighters knock down remaining
hot spots of one of the helicopters.
(Flagstaff Police Dept. photo)

The latest count has six people dead and one critically injured.  The two aircraft were approaching the Flagstaff Medical Center when they collided around 3:45 pm local time.  One of the planes was operated by Air Methods Corp. of Englewood, Colorado, and had three people onboard including a patient.  All three perished.

The other aircraft was operated by Classic Helicopters of Woods Cross, Utah, and had four people onboard.  Three of them died and the fourth, a nurse, was critically injured.  Both helicopters were headed for the hospital and were less than a mile away from the facility when they hit and spun out of control.  Fire officials said one landed on Switzer Mesa - also called McMillan Mesa - and  other landed downhill in a heavily wooded area.

KTVK

A spokesman for the Flagstaff Police Dept. said two rescue workers were slightly injured in a secondary blast as one of the helicopters on the ground exploded.  “They were treated for minor burns injuries [sic] and were released from the hospital in good condition,” Sergeant Tom Boughner told a Reuters reporter by telephone from the crash site.

The crash started a brush fire that burned 10-15 acres before it was contained.

Flagstaff Police Dept. photo

The Arizona Republic has the latest REPORT.

The Associated Press has this video report:

 

THE TRANS-MED AMBULANCE CO. IN LUZERNE COUNTY, Pennsylvania (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area), is drawing interest from several government investigators.

It has recently been discovered that a county Senior Judge, Michael T. Conahan, who just retired at the first of this year, is a shareholder and director of the company.  While holding his position on the bench, Trans-Med was awarded more than $47,000 to provide medical transports from a county-owned nursing home.  So far, nobody has been able to confirm that Trans-Med ever had a valid contract with the county to provide the service.

This disclosure came about during an investigation by the U. S. Dept. of Labor into Trans-Med’s employee practices that resulted in an order to Trans-Med to pay $23,470 in back wages to the ambulance workers for improperly calculated overtime pay.

As one thing leads to another, the FBI and the IRS are now investigating Judge Conahan’s financial links to another county judge and an attorney who is part-owner of a juvenile detention facility that has favorable contracts with the county.  Last week the FBI executed a search warrant to review county records relating to the contracts.

Dave Janoski of the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice has been working the story HERE and HERE.

A BRYAN (TEXAS) FIRE DEPARTMENT AMBULANCE WAS RESPONDING to an accident Tuesday afternoon when it found itself in an accident of its own.

Bryan Fire Dept. photo

The ambulance with two paramedics on board was driving down the center turn lane bypassing backed-up traffic when a car turned left from the regular traffic lane into the path of the ambulance.

The 81-yr.-old lady who was driving the auto was temporarily unconscious and had to be extricated.  She is in the hospital in fair condition with non-life threatening injuries.  The two medics were treated for minor injuries and released.  There was no patient in the ambulance.

The Bryan-College Station Eagle has the STORY.

Hat Tip to Christian L.

THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN (NEWSPAPER) IN TOKYO, JAPAN, is reporting today that about half of the emergency ambulance calls in Tokyo are for non-emergencies.

The newspaper went out to 51 fire stations in Tokyo and some other major cities and asked them what the people who call the 119 emergency number really ask for.

37 fire departments said some callers wanted to use ambulances for nonemergency purposes in a manner similar to a taxi.  A Kansai fire department said many people called 119 and named a time and date for an ambulance pick up. 

In another familiar refrain, 28 fire departments said some people with minor symptoms, such as a cold, called 119 because they thought they would be treated before other patients if they arrived by ambulance. 

This is leading to another growing abuse where some people who are frustrated with long waits in the ER waiting room are walking out and going to another location and then calling for an emergency ambulance.  One man is quoted as saying, “I waited for one hour and I got irritated. I thought I would have to wait less if I arrived by ambulance.”

The Yomiuri Shimbun has the full STORY.

THE MAYOR OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA, AND THE FULTON COUNTY Commission are combining to eliminate funding for emergency ambulance services in the Metro-Atlanta area.

The City of Atlanta is facing a budget shortfall of $140 million and the mayor, Shirley Franklin, is attempting to rein it in by completely eliminating any funding for EMS services in her proposed budget.  The City Council is able to amend the budget by adding a suplement, but so far they are showing little or no inclination to do so.

Meanwhile in the surrounding area, the Fulton County Commission voted last November to eliminate a $10 million funding supplement for the emergency ambulance services in the county effective July 1.  Some of the small cities in the northern part of the county are developing funding sources to make up the slack, but many of the others are already short of funds and can only rely on billing the victims to pay for their treatment and transportation.

Currently, Fulton County relies on two private ambulance firms, Grady and Rural/Metro, for its emergency EMS coverage.  The county believes that it is only shifting the financial responsiblity for it onto the individual towns that are using it.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the latest REPORT.

A 60-YR.-OLD ORLANDO, FLORIDA, WOMAN is in critical condition after her car collided with an ambulance Friday morning.

WFTV photo

The woman was driving through an intersection with the green light when a Health Central hospital ambulance responding with lights and siren on ran into the side of the car.  Two of the three ambulance personnel suffered minor injuries. 

The Orlando Sentinal has the STORY.

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A Chicago Fire Dept. ambulance collided with a car at an intersection Friday morning.  Ambulance 53 was running emergency with a patient on board when the crash took place.  The patient was did not suffer any injuries from the wreck and was successfully transported to the ER.

Early reports did not say what led to the collision.  Channel 2 has the brief STORY.

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A pilot for an air ambulance service was arrested Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky, on alcohol-related charges just before he was to fly on a trip with a paralyzed man and his wife.

The patient’s wife was about to take her husband to a spinal-cord treatment center in St. Louis when she noticed that the pilot, Stephen Ray Lynn, 51, of Mena, Arkansas smelled of alcohol.  She also noticed that the air ambulance had no medical supplies on board and that a woman who she thought was a nurse was sitting nervously, smoking a cigarette inside the plane.  The “nurse” turned out to be Lynn’s girlfriend.

The Lexington Herald-Leader has this STORY.

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The PTI News service in India is reporting:

A grief-stricken couple taking their son’s body for performing last rites were among four killed when the ambulance they were travelling in fell into a river at Kuttiadi near here on Saturday.

The couple, hailing from Kallachi adjacent to Kuttiadi, were bringing the body of Vijesh, who passed away in Bangalore on Thursday, for cremation when the mishap occurred, police said. The injured had been rushed to the Medical College hospital.

Locals, who first rushed to the spot, broke the front portion of the vehicle and pulled out the occupants. However, two of them had died by then, police said.

Fire force and police personnel later recovered another body from under the ambulance while one more person died at the hospital, they said.

*  *  *  *  *

Near Liverpool, England, an ambulance responding to an emergency call entered into a roundabout (traffic circle) and lost control, rolling over onto its side.  The three North West Amb. Service medics in the vehicle were shaken up, but not injured.  The Liverpool Echo has the REPORT.

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The Dells-Delton Emergency Medical Service in Wisconsin is having to write off and throw away a new ambulance that they purchased this past Fall after it had its fourth collision in the past eight months.  And while sitting in the lot after the 4th crash, rainwater leaked through a smashed light fixture causing a short and started a fire in the box.

The digits of the vehicle #805 add up to 13.

The Wisconsin Dells Events has the rest of the STORY.

THE WILSON COUNTY (TENNESSEE) EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY has announced an increase in its fees that it charges ambulance patients.

Currently the service charges a flat fee determined by the level of service required of about $600 to $800 per call.  In addition, they add on a “loaded mileage” charge for distance traveled when a patient is actually on board.  This mileage charge adds another $10 per “loaded” mile to the bill.

Using the rising cost of diesel fuel as a lever, the EMA announced that beginning July 1 they will be adding another $2 per mile, bringing the “loaded mile” charge up to $12.  They admit that the ambulances get about 5 miles per gallon.  So they will be collecting about $60 for every gallon of diesel they burn transporting a victim who is already being charged for the call.

WTVF Ch. 5 has the STORY.

WZTV Nashville has a video report:

THE NORTH WEST AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE in England is initiating a fund drive to pay for the operations of a second helicopter.  North West is a charitable service that relies wholly on donations to pay for the service.

As a part of this funding appeal they are planning on publishing one of those humorous “nudie” calendars that have become so popular in the UK recently.  But first they have to find 12 willing models to pose - “strictly in good taste” - for the monthly pages.  The only thing the volunteers will have to cover their modesty is the aircraft itself, with the age limit for applicants ranging from 21 to 121.

The Southport Visitor has the STORY.
The North West Air Ambulance WEBSITE.

Firegeezer recalls a similar scheme in Wales last November (see story HERE) wherein the North Wales F & R “diversity officer” made a fool of himself by getting all torqued out from the tasteful teasing of their “nudie” calendar.

“Jack the Lad” visits North Wales F & R

A DENVER, COLORADO, AMBULANCE COLLIDED with a truck Tuesday morning and ended up on its side, skidding along the pavement.

Denver Post / Osler photo

The Denver Health ambulance was responding to an emergency call with two paramedics and an EMT on board.  Its warning lights and siren were all activated when it came upon a traffic backup at an intersection.  The ambulance moved left into the oncoming lane to pass a lumber delivery truck that was in the left-hand turn lane.

As the ambulance was passing, the truck continued its travel and turned left into the path of the ambulance.  The truck driver, who was shaken up, said that she never heard or saw the ambulance.  The three medics were transported and treated for minor injuries.

Ch. 31 image

The Denver Post has the full STORY.