When there's a serious traffic accident with injuries, people take comfort in knowing that an ambulance is on the way. But when the crash involves an ambulance, patients and paramedics are put at risk because ambulance design has not kept pace with developments in vehicle safety.
That’s what happened in January 2014, when an ambulance from Allina Health Emergency Medical Services was hit head-on by an SUV on a snowy night in Buffalo Township. The two paramedics were severely injured and the driver of the SUV died.
“It really set us on a path to say we have to do something different,” said Jeff Czyson, director of operations for Allina’s ambulance service.
The force of the collision drove the ambulance’s steering wheel to the back of the driver’s compartment, leaving the driver with numerous broken bones. The other paramedic, who was attending to the patient, was thrown forward, hitting the front of the back cabin and suffering a traumatic brain injury.
Nationwide, there are about 4,500 ambulance accidents every year, with one-third of them resulting in injury.
After the accident, Allina EMS set out to make its ambulances safer but found that the industry’s designs had changed little since the 1980s. “Compared to the advances in passenger vehicles, it is night and day,” Czyson said.
Instead, Allina EMS decided to design an ambulance of its own.
Casting a wide net, i
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Posted: Nov 1, 2016
A dramatic Back Bay fire engine crash injured four firefighters and a civilian while crushing a Jeep, damaging eight other cars and even plowing down a tree and turning a sidewalk to rubble.“It’s shocking,” said Lisa Simmons, whose Saab was one of nine parked cars damaged in a domino effect on Commonwealth Avenue.
The fire truck, which was responding to a report of smoke at 1120 Boylston St., was traveling west on Commonwealth Avenue at 11:26 a.m. when it collided with a Chevrolet Equinox heading north on Dartmouth Street, Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn said.
Neither Boston police nor Finn could say who had the light at the time, even though a police camera is on the corner where the crash took place. But the fire truck had its siren and lights on, Finn said.
The truck then swerved onto the sidewalk, mowed down a tree and smashed into a parked Jeep, nearly obliterating it, and causing the chain reaction that left eight other parked cars damaged as well, said Steve MacDonald, a fire department spokesman.
The driver of the SUV the fire truck initially collided with and four firefighters, including a fire captain, all were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Finn said.
Even parts of the sidewalk underneath the fire engine were reduced to rubble, and heavy equipment had to be brought in to lift the truck off one of the parked cars.
Kaitlin Stratton, a Bay State College sophomore, had just parked on Commonwealth Avenue with her parents when the crash occurred.
“I heard the siren coming from behind,” she said. “I felt the ground shaking. I heard my dad yelling to the SUV, ‘Stop! Stop! Stop! But it was too late.”
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Posted: Nov 1, 2016
By Shaheed Morris | smorris@whag.com Published 10/31 2016 07:43PM Updated 10/31 2016 07:43PM The Middleway Fire Department donated a 1991 KME to the James Rumsey Technical Institute on Monday, replacing two of the institute's old fire trucks. "The students were very, very exited," said Principal Donna Van Metre.
“To be able to get a new piece of equipment that is functioning completely.”
During the ceremony early Monday, Middleway Fire Department officials received a plaque for the donation. The donated truck was in service last week.
The institute prepares students for careers in fighting fires and as paramedics. Student Chaz Vangilder was excited to see a new fire truck.
“I think it’s awesome getting a new fire truck here,” Vangilder said. “So this class and classes soon-to-be will get the hands-on training for the fighting job.”
Instructor Steven Harris, who is just starting his fourth month at the institute as a faculty member, said the donated truck will play a big role in students’ success.
“It’s going to help the students immensely in achieving their certifications. We had two trucks that didn’t operate fully.”
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