By Maddie Seiler
The Sentinel
Forget about flashing lights and sirens. Cumberland Goodwill EMS’s newest fleet comes equipped with lime green helmets and pedals.
The organization is debuting a bicycle team to respond to incidents at local events, planning its first appearance at the Employment Skills Center’s Carlisle Downtown Mile Thursday evening.
Assistant Chief Nathan Harig said the borough has an active bicycle community and many Cumberland Goodwill EMS responders are bicyclists.
“Since we have all these people that have an interest in biking, we have this background, and we like to support the bike community here in Carlisle, why not do our own bike team?” he said.
Harig believes the low noise and maneuverability of a bicycle team would likely have made a “pretty significant difference” at emergencies during last year’s Halloween parade, prompting talks of the program shortly thereafter.
The 12-member team formed over the winter.
While the bike team likely won’t deploy to emergencies from the station, Harig said members will attend downtown events, from parades and festivals to Summerfair activities.
“This is more of a generalized, hey, there’s a planned event in here, there’s going to be a lot of people, it’s going to be over a certain larger geographic area, let’s go and just have our bikes roaming the crowd,” he said.
Cumberland Goodwill EMS currently uses a John Deere Gator utility vehicle at similar events.
Harig said bicycles will move more quietly and likely arrive at incidents faster with the ability to fit through narrower spaces than the vehicle.
“We’re in a business that we like to try to minimize the amount of time that someone experiences an emergency without getting care,” he said. “So this is just another way that we can throw something at an emergency and make a positive impact.”
Each bicycle is packed with basic life support equipment, including gloves, masks, basic medications, Narcan, an AED, oxygen and other first aid materials. For more serious incidents, bike team members can provide initial care until an ambulance arrives at the scene.
Harig said one of the biggest challenges of forming the group was determining what equipment to purchase, ultimately selecting beginner mountain bikes with puncture-resistant all-terrain tires.
Another concern: safety.
“Our biggest fear is them being hit by a vehicle while out operating, so making sure that they have nice lime green helmets, being able to be seen, be safe, those were kind of the challenges that we had to work through,” Harig said. “We’re used to delivering emergency medical services at events already, so it’s just integrating this into our operations.”
Paramedic Nathaniel Stoner worked with Cumberland Goodwill EMS from 2019 to 2021 before rejoining the organization last year.
When he learned the service was starting a bike team, he didn’t hesitate to sign up. Stoner grew up mountain biking with his father, now using those skills to serve the community.
“I look forward to the opportunity to get to people who need us in a more difficult environment and start patient care, but also while having a lot of fun doing it,” he said. “It’s a lot more fun to ride a bike for me than to drive an ambulance.”
Harig said all bike team members also serve with Cumberland Goodwill EMS and the initiative was funded entirely through the organization.
“Carlisle is a big bike town,” he said. “We got bike lanes, we’ve got Bikelisle, we’ve got the pump track, so it’s something that we fit in with our community and as a community-based EMS organization, that’s what we’re all about.”
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