Hints & Kinks - Use and Maintenance of our Vehicles


General

  • Be sure the Master power switch is off when starting the vehicle. Starting the vehicle with this switch on can pop circuit breakers in the back and they have to be reset before the devices they power will work.
  • Fill the fuel tank when the gauge reaches the half-full mark. Both ambulances use diesel fuel only.
  • Ambulance transmissions must be in Drive for the siren to work.
  • We try to get both rigs out to the field on an equal basis. Please use the 'B' rig, at a minimum, for
    1. Nursing Home
    2. Assisted Living
    3. Care Center Apartments
    4. Lakewood Apartments
  • There are 2 designations for the ambulances. One is for paperwork, the other is for identification to dispatch.
    1. For paperwork purposes the ambulance identification never changes. The 471A is always a specific vehicle. At this time 471A is the "newer" rig. When that rig goes on a call it is ALWAYS 471A on paper whether it is the first rig out or not.
    2. For identification to dispatch and other support services 471 is the identification for an ambulance that goes on a single call. If the second ambulance is required for any reason it becomes 471B and the first rig out changes to 471A. If both are called at the same time simply start with 471A and 471B for the primary and secondary crew respectively. Dispatch needs to be able to link a rig to a crew so they can keep track of where everyone is.
  • When you purchase fuel for a truck (diesel only), mark the specific truck number (471A or 471B) on the receipt and drop the receipt into the run report box. The service needs to track fuel by the vehicle

Cleaning

  • Just today we had a very muddy floor after an ambulance run so, of course, when we were cleaning the rig we reached for the mop at the hospital to swab the floor. Don't be too quick to do so. One of the Gold Cross crew warned us that they had done the very same thing previously and found out that an earlier ambulance service had mopped up vomitus and left the mop bucket as it was! They said that their rig stank for days. So my suggestion is to dump the water and replace it with fresh before swabbing out the rig. And, check the mop head for chunks or a bad smell.

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