HONOLULU — The new Honolulu EMS ambulance bus is a retrofitted city bus capable of transporting 12 supine patients and about a dozen sitting patients at one time.
The ambulance bus gives officials a faster and easier way to transport multiple patients during a disaster or mass evacuation, reported KITV.
“This enables us to provide transportation for a lot of people in one vehicle rather than using multiple ambulances to transport patients to the hospital,” said Honolulu Mark Rigg, Emergency Medical Services Director.
The bus, equipped with a $65,000 homeland security grant, is ready for up to four paramedics to treat multiple patients on the way to the hospital.
“The way we have it fitted right now where 12 patients can lie supine and we have a number, probably about 12 or so, sit down. Lot of times we get walking wounded and those people can sit down on the way to the hospital,” said Rigg.
The Honolulu EMS ambulance bus will be on standby during natural disasters, like tropical storms and tsunamis.