Odd EMS related SUV.

[Groundpounder]

I was sitting at a light last night, and an ambulance with lights and sirens going came through the intersection. It was followed very closely by a full sized Suburban festooned with strobe lights. What was odd about the SUV was that it had what appeared to be an RV air conditioning unit on the roof above the rear seats, and all the windows aft of the driver were blanked out. I found a picture of a set up that is very close to what I saw:

What is this used for?

 

[Matthew]

“Mobile Health Service” with an AC?

They may go places to do free checkups or something like that.

 

[weilke]

Donor organ transports.

Or the chase car has to sit outside the station and they don't want the meds to cook.

 

[Groundpounder]

Donor organ transports.

Or the chase xar has to sit outside the station and they don't want the meds to cook.

That makes sense. The ambulance and the SUV were traveling together, the SUV was about 15' behind the ambulance.

 

[Eric Stoltz]

Exactly. Hospitals and EMS/FDs are starting to contract with ambulance services to provide more in home care that do not require prehospital emergent care. The rig is a mobile office more than an ambulance. I don't know the staffing exactly, but I bet it is two folks. One paramedic with all the letters and numbers and years, and the other a NP, or other highly skilled care giver specializing in this type of service.

Interesting, one of my FDs we had a suburban squad that was used for calls like these. Usually out in the sticks where we knew we'd beat the contract ambulance, and we knew we didn't need water. The responding ambulance dispatched for patient transport to the hospital was turned back into service about half the time.

Saves money and resources at the FD or EMS systems in terms of reduced not emergent calls, and frees up the ER to be able to have the resources needed for a real emergency.

The AC unit is like an RVs. There's plenty of drugs and equipment that like to be temp stable. Keep the rig plugged in at the firehouse or wherever, and keep the computers running, system charged, heated and cooled.

 

[weilke]

That makes sense. The ambulance and the SUV were traveling together, the SUV was about 15' behind the ambulance.

Some EMS agencies put the paramedic in a chase car. So if he is not needed for ALS transport he can get in the medic unit and take the next call. If he needs to ride in the back of the ambo the ambos emt drives the chase car back. If they are both needed in the back the chase unit is secured at the scene or a cop or FF brings it to the hospital.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

It's part of the deep state surveillance and control system - the device on top contains electronic devices designed to RapidScan the hard drives and remove suspect files from computers along the route . If they went by your house late last night with the lights and sirens going, there must have been reports of someone posting a picture of the American flag on Facebook.