If you have a golf course in your response area you might not need one but the golf course might. Your ambulance has no place on a golf course. It is their responsibility to make sure their clients can be reached, treated and extricated from the course without you getting stuck or causing damage to the course or your equipment, especially after it rains.
Every EMS responder who covers a golf course should have a preplan with the course. You should physically go over the course for obstacles to access. You need to make it clear to them that you are not four wheeling with a 12,000 Lb. vehicle. This is true no matter where the course is located, big city or out in the country. By the way, golf course owners or managers rarely come to EMS asking advice before an incident happens, it is up to you to go to them and make them aware they need to prepare for anything that may occur on their property.
Where does KIMTEK CORPORATION's equipment fit in?
The golf course has side by side utility vehicles. The MEDLITE® will fit into one of these. It can be permanently installed and, with a preplan in place be staged at a meeting point for your use on arrival. The course loses some use of the utility but saves about $7,000 over the purchase price of a dedicated ambulance cart. You have a proven safe way to get your patient back to the ambulance. It is a win/win.
My company works with golf courses to provide basic communication training and patient transport on the course. When I looked at Chief Johnson’s units I recognized it to be a much more cost effective way to get golf courses to participate in their patrons well being. While there is a bit of compromise involved, the cost is a lot less. That should help bring them to the table with you. I also provide a preplan outline for EMS responders working with the golf course.
On the surface you might not think KIMTEK CORP has equipment of use to you, but look a little deeper. I have also suggested to a department trying to fund a UTV going to a local course and explaining how you would use it there. You might get them to hold a fund raiser for you. By the way you still need to go over the course and set up a preplan. There are other things that can make an incident run smoothly. Please contact us for further information. We would more than happy to assist any EMS provider.
This is one more way that equipment manufactured by KIMTEK CORP can be used to provide safe off road patient transport, even in a city. It has been my pleasure to work with Chief Johnson. He builds well thought out, quality equipment at a reasonable price.
The information in this article has been published in Golf Course News online magazine and has been reformatted to present to my brothers and sisters.
For D. S. S. Consulting
Ralph Sanders
Ret. FF/PM
Ralph Sanders is a retired firefighter/ paramedic with twenty years service in local 1045 Concord, NH. He started his career in EMS with the Penacook, NH. Rescue Squad in the early sixties. His main focus now is off road patient transport and water & rescue gear.
