 |
|
|
September 2, 2008
Ocracoke EMS gets new ambulance and equipment
By SUNDAE HORN  Ocracoke Emergency Medical Services recently completed outfitting the island’s brand new 2008 ambulance. “It’s the first new truck Ocracoke has gotten since 2003,” said David Warren, director of Ocracoke EMS. The new ambulance can carry up to four patients and is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including an advanced heart monitor that works as a defibrillator and also checks a patient’s blood pressure, pulse rate, and blood oxygen content automatically. That information can be sent immediately via cell phone to a cardiologist. “We can make a treatment decision within two or three minutes now,” Warren said. Ocracoke’s EMS fleet now includes two ambulances (both with paramedic equipment and advanced heart monitors), a FOUR-wheel drive pickup truck with a new defibrillator, and another van unit for beach access, which is also equipped with a defibrillator. “Having a beach unit is new this year,” said Warren, as he explained that, in the past, beach emergencies meant loading the victim into the pickup truck for transport to the paved road where the ambulance was waiting. “Now we can take it right out where folks are.” Funding for the new heart monitors came from the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax Board, which also paid for two new automatic defibrillators for the island. “An AED (automated external defibrillator) can be used by anyone with CPR training,” Warren said. “One will be placed in the Ocracoke School commons area, and all the staff will be trained how to use it and the other will go in the blue EMS pick-up.” |
|
  |
|
|
|