HISTORY
Rescue U Emergency Vehicles was founded in 1985 by Gene Maloney of Thousand Oaks, Ca.. Gene has been in involved in disaster preparednesssince 1980 and has attended many disaster conferences and drills that have been staged by major fire departments.
It is these experiences from the conferences and drills that he decided to develop a line of product designed exclusively for disasters. He wanted to provide equipment and supplies that were designed for disasters and Mass Casualties rather that use items designed for other applications.
The first goal was to solve the problems of where to store and how to transport the equipment and supplies to the incident site. Another objective was to organize and speed up the medical aid being rendered.
At every drill he attended it took from 45 minutes to hours for the back up medical supplies and equipment to arrive at the incident site. The reason was that the supplies were stored on a building somewhere. They had to find the keys to the warehouse and the truck, find someone authorized to drive the truck and load it..
The next problem was when the supplies arrived at the scene. Everything was packed in boxes and not organized. The boxes were just scattered out on the ground and you had to hunt for what you need. There was a continual running from the patient to the supply boxes and back to the patient. In most cases the medical would make 4 or 5 trips to the supply boxes per patient. A lot of time was wasted.
The reason that the medic ran back and forth to the supply boxes was that Standard trauma kits are so compartmentized that they make it very hard to find what is needed.
In a disaster when you will probably have mutual aid, it is very important to have as much as possible the equipment and supplies standardized. Another goal was to eliminate as much decision making as possible, Every decision that a medic has to make tends to add to the confusion. There is a tendency to want to put 2x2’s, 3x3’s, 4x4’s, 2”, 3” and 4” roller bandages in the supplies. These all require a decision as to what to use.
The Solutions
Storage and Transportation
The storage of the equipment and supplies in a building was not the answer because it took to much time to get them loaded and transported. Another problem is that the building may become part of the disaster in a Fire, earthquake, tornado or hurricane and then all of you preparedness efforts are lost.
Gene decided that specially designed trailers were the answer because they could be stored away from building, trees and power lines so that they did not become part of the disaster. They could be built so that they would be water, dust and rodent proof to protect the equipment and supplies.
The tendency was to get as big of a Wells Cargo trailer as you could. The problem is that to get what you need without unloading the trailer, you had to build shelved into it. When you did this you lost 2/3rd’s of you storage space. It would also require a very big truck to pull it and it would be hard
to maneuver it at a incident site.
Gene’s answer was to designed a smaller compact trailer and utilize 100% of the storage space. He designed a trailer with large doors on both sides of the trailer. When opened, you have access to everything in the main compartment. There is a front compartment that has doors on both sides for
access and ALS equipment or generators and lights can be stored in that compartment. At the rear of the trailer, there is a door that gives you access to the space underneath the main compartment. That compartment is where the backboards are stored or anything that is up to 8” in length.
This trailer can be pulled with any ½ ton pickup, SUV or Van and is water, dust and rodent proof. Because of where we place the axle, it can safely be pulled at any speed without fear of whipping. In addition, we build in lift line hooks so that it can be air lifted. The trailers come in either steel frame and aluminum skin or All aluminum.
The system provides
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A safe place to store the equipment and supplies
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A rapid method of transporting the equipment & supplies to the Incident
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No special truck needed to pull the trailer
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The system organizes the equipment and supplies for easy distribution
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The unit can be airlifted
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Provides Standardization for Mutual Aid Partners
Equipment & Supplies
Gene also wanted to address other problems that he observed at the drills that he attended. He wanted to speed up the attention to aiding the injured.
First, because the medical supplies and equipment that was brought in were in boxes, they were simply unloaded. The problem that this caused was that the medic’s were running back and forth to the supply boxes. This caused a great loss of time. Standard trauma kits did not work well because they were so compartmentized. If the medic’s were not familiar with the kit they would loose a lot of time looking for what they needed.
Another problem was that there was tendency to want to put several different items in the kit that did the same thing. For example, 2x2, 3x3, 3x4, 4x4 etc.. The problem with that is that every time the medic has to make a decision as to what to use , it has the tendency to muddle the mind a little More
The solution was to design a special Disaster Trauma Kit that solved the problem. Our Disaster Trauma Kit zips around the edge and opens up like a book. The contents are stored in clear plastic pockets so that the medic can easily see what they need. The kit comes filled, ready for use. The kit contains sterile 4X4’s for the smaller wounds, 5X9’s for the larger wounds. Non sterile 4X4’s, 4” roller bandages, 1” tape, triangular bandages, Irrigation water packs, burn towel kits, a arm splint, a leg splint. gloves, and face masks with eye shields.
Another problem was moving patients from where they were found to the treatment area. To properly do it, you would need to strap the patient to the back board. This takes time and the board is uncomfortable. If you are moving the patient up or down hills or stairs, it is also very stressful for the
rescuers. We decided to design a stretcher to be used for patients without spinal injuries. The Roll-A-Stretcher is a soft stretcher with 8 rope filled handles and a foam pad built in. We put rope in the handles so that the material would not bunch up and cut into the rescuer’s hand. We also built in a foam pad to make it more comfortable for the patient and also to help insulate the patient from ground thermal problems ( the heat or cold) By grabbing the first and third handles, it also forms a stair chair for going
up and down hills or stairs. There are also slots down the side of the stretcher that pipe poles can be inserted into to form a 2 man liter. There is no need to strap the patient to the stretcher because when you
pick it up it cradles the patient.
The other unique product that we designed was the Trauma Patient Pack. The Trauma Patient Packs rolls out to form a large clean area in which to place the patient. We also have built in a foam pad to make it more comfortable for the patient as well as to help insulate the patient from the heat or cold of the surface.
Last but not least, we have included a Triage Management Kit. The kit contains four 16 X 20 color coded tarps. (red, green, yellow & Black) It also has 6 hard hats and vest. (red, green, yellow, black
2 blue) , 6 clipboards and 50 triage tags.
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