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Take a look at the new Apopka ambulance

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State of the art vehicle hits the streets tomorrow at Fire Station #5 Grand Opening

From the City of Apopka

Meet the new ambulance that will begin service Friday with the grand opening of Apopka Fire Station #5.

This vehicle is equipped with some of the latest safety enhancements for patients and paramedics. First, the patient compartment has an additional two feet of space for paramedics to work. Exterior storage doors allow patient backboards to be pulled from both sides of the ambulance – older vehicles require paramedics to remove backboards from the left side while often standing near moving roadway traffic.

Interior storage cabinets and drawers are more crash resistant, preventing equipment from falling onto vehicle occupants. Last year, the fire department began equipping ambulances with safer Stryker stretchers that have hydraulic lift systems to reduce strain on paramedics when lifting patients. A Power Load guides those stretchers into ambulances and locks them into place, keeping the patient from moving during transport. The newest ambulance has a bolstered air conditioning system that can maintain interior temperatures 24 hours a day.

The fire department was the first in Central Florida to equip ambulances with the latest LUCAS 3 chest compression systems that are designed to improve outcomes of sudden cardiac arrest victims and improve operations for the firefighters. They lock around the patients’ upper torso and create perfectly timed compressions at a rate of 102 beats per minute with the proper amount of pressure to help quickly improve the possible outcomes of restoring a regular heartbeat. Some of the LUCAS 3 devices were purchased with a $37,575 grant from Orange County EMS Office of the Medical Directors Office.

Ambulances have car safety seats for children – often needed to accompany an injured parent or adult. Now Apopka’s ambulances also have safety devices to secure injured infant patients onto stretchers while paramedics work to help them.

The Apopka Fire Department was the first fire department in Florida to begin ambulance transport in 1966. The department has remained a leader in emergency medical services as it enters the 52nd year of ambulance service to the citizens of Apopka.

Editor's Note: Photos from the City of Apopka

Apopka Fire Department

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