Airport medical programs

Airport amenity of the week: bike medics at LAX

Courtesy LAWA

If you take a tumble or get sick at an airport you want to be sure help can be quickly on its way.

So Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) and the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) are doing a six-month trial to send first responders to injured people (passengers and workers) at Los Angeles International International on bikes.

The majority of EMS (Emergency Medical Service) incidents at LAX don’t end up needing ambulances to transport people to hospitals, which means the current model of sending fire companies and rescue ambulances to ncidents is ineffiicent in both time and cost.

So this new program, which started last week, brings an Advanced Practitioner Response Unit and two cycle teams to the airport to handle a wide variety of EMS calls.  The cycle teams are backed up by an Advanced Provider Response Unit (APRU) staffed with a nurse practitioner and a firefighter/paramedic, all located in the LAX terminals.  The unit has a ‘med cart’  stocked with equipment similar to that found in ambulances – but unlike ambulances this unit can drive on sidewalks and walkways inside the terminals.

courtesy LAWA

 

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