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Bikes gaining use as emergency vehicles
November 3, 1996
Web posted at: 10:10 p.m. ESTFrom Correspondent Jim Hill
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Paramedics in several major U.S. cities are using bikes to speed through crowds. (21 sec. /864K QuickTime movie)
"The bicycle gives you ease of access across lawns, up hills and through parks," said Mike MacNeil of the International Association of Firefighters.
During a walk for charity in Los Angeles, pedaling paramedics easily maneuvered their way through the crowds.
"If you imagine something happening in the middle of a crowd ... it's cumbersome to get an ambulance there," David Givot, a bicycle paramedic.
Paramedics say the bicycle squad can often have a patient stabilized by the time the ambulance -- which remains nearby -- arrives for transport.
"What you're doing is probably cutting the response time by five to ten minutes, and that's a lot of time when you're talking to somebody who's not breathing," said paramedic Scott Holland.
The first use of bicycle paramedics is thought to have been during Pope John Paul II's visit to Denver in 1993.
Since then other cities -- including Salt Lake City, Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles -- have made bikes a standard part of their community's emergency medical service.
And at the 2002 Winter Olympics, now under construction in Salt Lake City, bike paramedics will play a major part in emergency care.
The two wheelers have limits: They can't carry a patient, don't have big items of equipment and can't reach a distant scene.
But for maneuvering in crowds and reaching patients quickly, specialists think two wheels may be better than four.
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