I had a (911) call a few weeks ago at a high-rise apartment building, to a unit on the 23rd floor. Me and my partner waited a while in the lobby for an elevator, then once one came, we had to kick people off to fit in with our stretcher, then on the way up, stopped at several floors where people wanted to get in. Same sequence on the way down-- but we had a patient on our stretcher.
We were lucky, the time delays were not significant in this case, and time was not critical for this patient, but I fear for the time when it does cause problems.
I have worked for/with several services, and nobody seems to know anything about the "Medical Emergency" key accessible for some elevators. Some elevators have a medical cross on the threshold-- signifying, as I understand it, that a stretcher will fit in.
I also understand that all new buildings need at least one stretcher accessible elevator if over a certain number of floors.
Here are my questions:
1) Does anyone know anything about these keys? Do they allow "priority access" to the elevator? Where would a service look to find one?
2) What are the laws in terms of EMS accessible elevators?
3) What are the rules of etiquette for using a EMS key? Can one use it when the patient is not urgent, but to protect privacy?
Thoughts?
Thanks,
DS
We were lucky, the time delays were not significant in this case, and time was not critical for this patient, but I fear for the time when it does cause problems.
I have worked for/with several services, and nobody seems to know anything about the "Medical Emergency" key accessible for some elevators. Some elevators have a medical cross on the threshold-- signifying, as I understand it, that a stretcher will fit in.
I also understand that all new buildings need at least one stretcher accessible elevator if over a certain number of floors.
Here are my questions:
1) Does anyone know anything about these keys? Do they allow "priority access" to the elevator? Where would a service look to find one?
2) What are the laws in terms of EMS accessible elevators?
3) What are the rules of etiquette for using a EMS key? Can one use it when the patient is not urgent, but to protect privacy?
Thoughts?
Thanks,
DS