Acadian Ambulance Serivce operates a fleet of 615 ambulances with over 3,000 medics to service the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. In their quest to provide the highest level of pre-hospital care for patients while keeping their employees safe, Acadian invested in a dedicated patient evacuation vehicle known as an Ambus for deployment  to areas needing additional resources for natural disaster responses such as:

• Evacuations
• First Responder rehabilitation services during large scale events
• Mass casualty incidents
• Training with public safety agencies, hospitals and nursing homes 
• Standbys.

This vehicle enabled up to 20 patients to be transported at one time and was so successful, a second Ambus / MPV was commissioned.

So what led Acadian Ambulance Services to the Ferno iNTRAXX System?                                                                                        According to Jefrey Thibodeaux, a 31-year veteran at Acadian and Regional AMBUS Program Director, the Texas EMTF AMBUS Work Committee he served on discovered Ferno iNTRAXX System through research. Impressed by the System's simplicity of use and ability to safely secure patients at different heights up the vehicle wall, Jeffrey stated   "...it has been a blessing for our operations".

The chosen solution included iNTRAXX Tracks that were mounted to interior vehicle walls. These served as the base to which iNTRAXX Litter Arms were secured to. The Litter Arms are designed to support litters which are placed on the arms and locked into position to prevent unwanted movement.

AMBUS Configuration
The AMBUS is configured with iNTRAXX tracks at three height levels and fitted with essential service outlets such as power and oxygen. Bench seats with storage drawers for equipment and supplies run the length of the MPV and are located beneath the lowest Track.  

When asked what benefits iNTRAXX brought to the MPV, Jeffrey said:
"The iNTRAXX System brings stability and safety to securing patients vertically in our unit. The system allows us to organize patients with higher acuity in the MPV unit and helps responders while providing patient care in a better organisational set-up. The system has been an EMS game-changer for us."

Acadian Chairman and CEO, Richard Zuschlag, is recorded* as saying:
"Moving a greater number of patients in a safe and comfortable manner greatly increases our response capability. This is important not only for initial evacuations ... but also for returning patients and nursing home residents to their faciliites quickly after a threat has passed".

From the numerous successful missions conducted to date, Acadian Ambulance Service are certainly living up to their goal of delivering the highest level of prehospital care while keeping patients and employees safe during the process. 

*Source: Acadian Ambulance blogpost 


 

Credits
Our thanks to Kris Turner, Acadian Ambulance Service and Jeffrey Thibodeaux for sharing this story.

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