|
Tuna Wharf (Photo by John Fiore) |
|
|
| |
     
|
|
|
Home
>
Ambulance Committee
Ambulance Committee
HISTORY:
The Rockport Ambulance Department (RAD) was founded in the early 1970”s as a 24-hour emergency medical service. The Department has it's own headquarters at 37 R Broadway facing Broadwat Avenue. The RAD currently operates two modular ambulances. The volunteers who staff the service are all certified by the State of Massachusetts as Emergency Medical Technicians in Basic Life Support.
PURPOSE:
The Rockport Ambulance Department (RAD) provides emergency medical care and transportation to the sick and injured in the Town of Rockport. Emergency Meical Technicians (EMT’s) are trained and certified to:
- Assess patient status
- Treat life-threatening situations
- Stabilize a patient’s condition
- Provide safe and rapid transport to definitive medical care
The RAD transports patients to the ADDISION GILBERT HOSPITAL and BEVERLY HOSPITAL. The Department does not take patients to doctors’ offices, immediate care centers, clinics or HMO’s. The ambulances are linked to medical direction at area hospital emergency departments. In life-threatening cases, transport is to the nearest hospital. The RAD system is a two-tiered, that is, all RAD on-call volunteers are certified EMT’s licensed to provide basic life support which as the first tier. Second-tier response is provided by Lyons Ambulance Service or Gloucester Rescue for advanced life support(ALS), when the need arises, on an intercept basis.
DISPATCH:
The ambulances are dispatched by radio from the Rockport Police Department when they receive a 911 call for medical assistance. A crew of at least two EMT’s will always respond to the “call”. All Department EMT’s carry a 2 way radio. This enables them to respond to primary and secondary calls, and to emergencies in their neighborhoods throughout Rockport.
FUNDING:
The Rockport Ambulance Department is a self-supporting Department whose budget is generated by the user fee/insurance that a person pays when a transport is made. The RAD accepts donations by the general public and gratefully acknowledges the outstanding community support for their ongoing efforts in providing the most up-to-date, professional, pre-hospital medical care possible.
Updated 11/28/06
|
|