BY ALAN M. PETRILLO

Ambulance manufacturers are responding to customer requests for specific innovations in terms of designs and equipment, both inside and outside of an ambulance’s patient box. In addition, makers are coming up with innovative ideas of their own to increase the safety and efficiency of the working crew as well as the patient.

PL CUSTOM

Chad Newsome, national sales manager for PL Custom Body and Equipment Co. Inc., says PL Custom has been focused on meeting the requirements in Change Notice 10 (July 2017) to the Federal Specification for Star-of-Life Ambulances (KKK-A 1822(F). The Change Notice dealt with three areas, he says: ambulance modular body evaluation, interior cabinet integrity, and patient compartment structural integrity. “With our Medic in Mind design, we want to keep the crew seated and belted and all switches and equipment close at hand so the medic doesn’t have to get up and move around,” Newsome points out.

Newsome notes that PL Custom forms its countertops from a Corian-type material with radiused edges to mitigate any sharp points, and its interior cabinets are cut on a 45-degree angle so they don’t offer any strike points. “We also have been coating the back side of cabinets, the wheel wells inside the box, and the step wells with AudioGuard, a sound-deadening material,” he says. “We are making the inside of the truck very quiet because we want the crew to not be distracted by noise and be able to clearly hear any patient conversation.”

BRAUN INDUSTRIES

Chad Brown, vice president of sales and marketing for Braun Industries Inc., says Braun’s recent ambulanc