After more than one year of planning and custom design by various members of the Roxbury Ambulance Association, the latest Roxbury Ambulance was delivered in early May 2009. The ambulance was built by PL Custom/Rescue 1 Manufacturing in Manasquan, New Jersey. The ambulance is a 2009 Ford E-450, which then had the 'ambulance box' portion of the rig built by PL Custom.
This particular ambulance incorporates the latest technology for emergency response, patient care, and crew safety. It is the first ambulance manufactured in the country with Ford's new In-Dash Navigation system, which utilizes Global Positioning Satellites to show the ambulances location, as well as determine a route to an emergency scene, and subsequent transport route to a hospital.
In terms of crew safety, this vehicle has a hydraulic oxygen bottle lift, which eliminates the need for EMT's to load the very heavy main oxygen bottle into the ambulance, often a cause of injuries. While the crew is attending the patient in the back of the ambulance, this vehicle provides for all equipment to be stowed safely in compartments to reduce the possibility of injury during sudden stops. To maximize crew safety, all EMT positions in the rear of the truck are afforded a five-point, helicopter style, crash harness. These harnesses have emergency retractors in them, which allows the EMT to work on the patient, and then be fully secured in the event of impact or evasive maneuver.
To keep all EMT's in their seats, and to allow increased communications between the crew, our dispatch center and the hospitals, each position in the ambulance is equipped with a "live-mike" headset which will allow all members in the rig to talk to one another, and remain belted in their seat. To reduce drain on the electrical system, and insure mechanical reliability, the ambulance utilizes LED technology for all lighting. This type of lighting is state of the art, providing very bright lights with very little power drain. Considering many of our emergency scenes are at night, and Roxbury has very few street lights, this is one of the first ambulances equipped with "Brow lights" which are very high intensity floodlights on the front of the truck. Even though Roxbury has no traffic lights, the ambulance is equipped with a 3-M Corporation "Opticom System" traffic light pre-emptor. This is a special strobe light on the front of the cab which preempts specially equipped traffic signals. While we don't have traffic lights in town, cities such as Danbury do have them, and this will provide added safety when we transport to Danbury Hospital. Also remember, this ambulance will serve for about ten years, so IF Roxbury ever does get a traffic light, we'll be sure that it is equipped with Opticom!
There are many other features to this vehicle, and we invite everyone down to inspect it and check it out!
