THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 4, 1995 TAG: 9502040320
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONYA WOODS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
If you see something that looks like a long golf cart with sirens and lights coming toward you at the Ocean View Fest in May, don't be alarmed. Just get out of its way - it's bringing medical help to someone in need.
The vehicle is a DART - Difficult Access Rescue Transporter - and it's designed to go where a regular-sized ambulance can't. During city festivals, for example, paramedics can maneuver through throngs of people to deliver on-the-spot medical care.
In December, Norfolk became the first city in southeastern Virginia to buy a DART, said Fred Burt, special operations chief. And it bought three, at about $13,000 each.
Burt said the vehicles - 8 feet long, 3 feet wide and 6 feet high - can do almost anything a regular ambulance can. And some things one can't.
``A lady passed out in a parking garage, and the paramedics were able to get to her with the mini-ambulance, because a regular ambulance can't fit in those parking decks,'' Burt said.
The DART can carry one patient. The entire unit, including sirens and lights, operates on a standard car battery.
``These mini-ambulances can take care of a person until the paramedics can get him to an ambulance or nursing station,'' Burt said. ``This is a safer way to access the patient without endangering the crowd.''
But the DART doesn't exactly fly. Its top speed, 15 mph, means it can't be used to take someone to a hospital.
Medical Transport Inc. designed the mini-ambulances with Robinson Body Works, which built them. Norfolk first used them in 1993 during holiday parades and again on a trial basis at Harborfest '94.
``Before, we had one paramedic working an event, and he would carry all the equipment he could with him,'' Burt said. ``But one person can only carry so much. These ambulances allow the paramedic to carry everything he needs in one trip.'' ILLUSTRATION: JIM WALKER/Staff
Firefighter Paul Parks sits in a DART parked in front of a bulkier,
full-sized ambulance.
by CNB