The Isle of Palms Fire Department spent time last month training with Charleston County EMS, familiarizing personnel with the new Mobile Ambulance Bus and strengthening the regional partnership between the agencies.
The Mobile Ambulance Bus is a specialized emergency response vehicle designed to transport multiple patients simultaneously during mass-casualty incidents, large-scale evacuations and major community events such as the Cooper River Bridge Run. The unit can transport up to 22 patients at once and includes 10 seated transport positions, 12 patient beds, wheelchair tie-downs, emergency medical equipment and a Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure monitoring system.
Originally part of the Charleston County Public Library's Library on Wheels program, the vehicle was converted into an EMS unit using a $199,051 grant from the South Carolina Department of Public Health. It is available for deployment 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Great training this week! Building relationships with our partners at Charleston County EMS and working with new apparatus and creative approaches to treating multiple patients with their new Mobile Ambulance Bus,” firefighter Braxton Comer said.