AMBUlANCE IDLE...

[RESCUERANDYEMS]

So I've heard multiple stories about people complaining about "their tax dollars being wasted" because the ambulance is never turned off. It was under my impression that they are left running to keep up with the electrical needs of the fridge and warmers along with keeping the temperature your regulated to keep.

What are your thoughts on this?

I know if you work at a station its different cause you can charge up but what about those who just sit in an empty parking lot?

 

[luke_31]

Keep the rig running, if you're in it all day you will be either using the heat or the A/C most of the year. On a BLS truck there isn't much need to have it running or plugged in for electrical equipment in the back. A ALS unit where you have your monitor charging and other equipment then yes it would need to be plugged in at the station and left running when not plugged in. Where I work we have a saline cooler, the monitor, and portable suction unit charging in the back so it's always on unless we have it plugged in at the station. We also have iStat cartridges that need to be kept at a certain temperature so it's very important that our saline cooler always has power to it and is running in the correct temperature range.

 

[Aprz]

Eh, I feel like where I work, the charging equipment in the back thing is kind of not really true. Some of the ambulances don't have chargers or they are broken, and I have never needed to switch out the batteries. The most I'll drain is one battery out of two. The suction equipment is kind of annoying cause I can't tell if it is charge or not, but it has never failed me (famous last words) even if it wasn't plugged in or the charger was broken. Even though we are ALS, I run a lot of BLS calls, and rarely use the suction anyways. We no longee do therapeutic hypothermia, which we stopped during the last saline shortage and when studies showed that maybe we jumped the gun on its benefits. Like if the rig was off all day, I am positive we would be fine. If charging equipment is bad, I usually ask for a spare battery for each thing that I won't charge at the beginning of the shift, make sure the batteries are already mostly full, and it just haven't been an issue. This is on a 12 hour ALS car.

 

[NPO]

So I've heard multiple stories about people complaining about "their tax dollars being wasted" because the ambulance is never turned off. It was under my impression that they are left running to keep up with the electrical needs of the fridge and warmers along with keeping the temperature your regulated to keep.

What are your thoughts on this?

I know if you work at a station its different cause you can charge up but what about those who just sit in an empty parking lot?

Like nearly everything in EMS, it depends where you are. Everyone has different needs.

Some places need to keep the truck (or it's contents) cool, some warm, some have charging issues for equipment.

The idea of "wasting tax dollars" by idling in a parking lot is silly. First of all, you can't keep 2 people in an ambulance and not run it sometimes. But mostly, it's not a waste, it's a trade off. The EMS agency has decided that SSM is what's best, they're speeding money idling for "faster" response times. But they're also saving money on stations.

The people who complain about this are the people who just want something to complain about.

 

[n00bmedic]

For most of the rigs where I work, if we shut them off for any appreciable time, they won't start back up without a jump.

 

[DrParasite]

For most of the rigs where I work, if we shut them off for any appreciable time, they won't start back up without a jump.

that's what I was always taught. If you shut the truck off, there is a good chance it won't start back up.

I did once have a supervisor who told me not to run my ambulance when we were posted in a town that didn't provide us with quarters. She said it was wasting fuel. I promptly ignored her directions, as she was in an office most of the day, not in a truck posted on a street corner.

One a nice day, when we are in a park, in the shade, yes, I will gladly roll the windows down, maybe even open the doors, and turn the engine off. But most of the time, if i'm not in quarters, my truck doesn't get turned off unless we are parked an ER or getting fuel. The risks of it not turning back on when we get dispatched to a 911 call is too high, based on past experience. Most of our trucks are not plugged in when they are out of service, and some have a bad habit of not starting up, especially on a cold morning.

If people want to complain about me wasting taxpayer dollar (and I did have someone walk up to me when my partner was running to the bank, because she didn't think she should be allowed to do that either), they are more than welcome to funding the construction of an EMS station, with a crew lounge, bunk rooms, and electronic shoreline.

Side note: we no longer leave our suctions plugged in, as we have found it typically kills the batteries, and renders it useless when we need it. once it starts dying, we replace it with a fresh one from the supervisors officer