Websters defines "ambulance" as:

a vehicle equipped for transporting the injured or sick

I guess thats a pretty accurate description. Except for one little thing. Ambulances are also equiped to TREAT the sick and injured.

Ambulances were first used by the Spanish in the 1400's to quickly transport their war fallen from the battle field to off-site camps where they could be treated by medical professionals. These crude transport vehicles were often hay carts that were taken from the locals for this purpose. They had no specialized equipment and often patients were stacked on top of one another on the carts. Fast forward to the late 1800's when ambulances were first used for civilian use. Not much had changed in the way patients were transported in 400 years though and your chances of surviving an ambulance ride were often worse than just being left alone.

The birth of the automobile brought around some minor changes. Now the patients could be transported in relitive discomfort without having to smell horses. There was still no provisions for actually treating patients in the field. That concept wouldn't come about until the 1960's and 1970's.

The birth of "modern" ambulance transport was a rough one. Private companies would often use converted vans or Cadillac wagons to transport patients rapidly to the hospital. This was the first time that the "ambulance driver" actually had some form of medical training. Often there was no attendent with the patient during transport but some medical treatment was provided prior to taking off to the hospital. The problem was that there was no regulation. Competing companies would often race each other to the scene and then sabatoge each others ambulances once there. Anyone who has seen the movie "Mother Jugs and Speed" can get a pretty acurate idea of what was going on.

Truly modern ambulances and the way emergency services are handled started in the 1990's with the widespread use of the 911 system. From this point on there was no compeing ambulance services stepping on each others toes (in theory). If you pick up the phone and dial 911 the closest ambulance equiped to handle your particular case will respond in a timely manor. Often this will be with the lights and sirens going (this is called Code 3, Code 2 is no lights, no sirens. There is no Code 1) Now, in other areas, especially big cities, they triage (the act of prioritizing emergencies) calls so if you call 911 for a seizure and someone else calls 911 for a heart attack, the other person gets the ambulance first. In Butte county, however, this isn't the case. In Butte county ALL requests for an ambulance going through the 911 system are considered Code 3 and no ambulance is diverted to another call regardless of its nature. This is becuase we have more than enough ambulances to handle the need of our county. Not to say there aren't times when EVERY ambulance in the county isn't on a call but those times are very few and far between.

Ambulances now are staffed with medical professionals. All ambulances in Butte county are staffed with at least one paramedic and one EMT. An EMT has one semester of training in basic life support (BLS). This includes splinting, airway management, child birth, minor burns, minor lacerations, ect. A paramedic has an additional year of very intense training. They can treat a whole host of medical emergencies including cardiac or respitory arrest, seizure, trauma, ect. Paramedics have training that puts them somewhere in the area just above an LVN but just below an RN.

The reason I write all this is to clear up a few things. First, there are no "ambulance drivers" any more. If you get an ambulance you are getting trained medical professionals who have dedicated their lives treating the sick and injured outside a hospital setting. This means working in the rain, the snow, the heat, the wind, at night, on weekends, and on holidays. Our shifts are often very long (in Butte county we work 48 hour continuous shifts) and very tiring but we do it because we love it.

The common misconception, even among many nurses and doctors, is that ambulance personnel are just glorified taxi drivers who are here to dispose of patients they no longer want in the hospital. This couldn't be further from the truth. The job of an ambulance is to bring patients TO the hospital, not take them out (unless its to another hospital). I can't tell you how many calls we get from hospitals saying "This patient walked into the ER and needs a ride home, come get them." We are not a taxi service, we are not a bus, we are here to make sure sick people get to the hospital quickly and receive life saving treatment on the way.

Now, in the rare case that we do get roped into taking someone home from the hospital to their house let me give you a run down on whats going to happen. Were going to bill your insurance. Your insurance is going to look at it and say "If this person was so sick that they needed an ambulance why didn't they stay in the hospital? Claim denied." The bill will then be sent to the patient with full expectation that they will pay it. And how much is the bill?

Depending on how far you live from the hospital the bill can vary but expect around $3000.00. Kind of expensive for a fancy taxi isn't it? In almost 100% of the cases no medical treatment is administered and the attendant (usually the EMT) sits and makes pleasant coversation until the patient is back home. Non-emergency medical transport is available from a few private companies (Merit Medi-Trans, Heart to Heart, First Responder) at a fraction of the cost and is a much more appropriate use of resources.

So now that you know what an ambulance is please use them with respect. Calling for an ambulance for a mosquito bite, a hang nail, sleeplessness, a runny nose, or feeling too awake (all calls I've been on, by the way) means that no one else who might actually be sick gets an ambulance if they need one. Rural areas like Gridley, Colusa, Willows, Orland, Williams, ect only have one ambulance that serves that community and when they are on a call any other calls have to wait.

And finally when you see an ambulance with its lights on either behind you or coming toward you pull to the right of the road and STOP. Increasingly people dont pull over at all, stop in the middle of the road, or pull left. My favorite is when a line of cars does actually pull over and stop and one guy uses that opportunity to get to the front of the line. Smooth move. All these are not only dangerous but illegal. CHP likes nothing more than to cruise behind a Code-3 ambulance and ticket people that dont pull over. Cost of the ticket? $281. So pull over to the right and stop until the ambulance passes. Remember, the person who called for us might just be someone you love.