Press Release

November 27, 2006
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: Claudie Benjamin
The University Hospital
Phone: (973) 972-2887
benjamcl@umdnj.edu

The University Hospital’s New EMS Rescue Truck Now In Service
Truck Equipped to Save People in Road, Construction,
Water Accidents in Newark Area

NEWARK - The University Hospital’s new specialized EMS rescue truck is now on the area’s roads and highways, for use by The University Hospital’s emergency medical experts to more quickly rescue people with traumatic injuries in auto, industrial and boating accidents in the Newark area.

The vehicle is expected to be used primarily for rescue operations linked to car and truck accidents on the four major highways in Newark, the New Jersey Turnpike, Interstates 78 and 280, and state Route 21. In addition, said University Hospital EMS Director Nancy Hamstra, the truck is equipped for specialized rescue operations along lake and coastal areas and at the sites of industrial and seaport accidents.

The truck’s equipment was specifically recommended by EMS staff to meet the needs of modern rescue operations. The EMS’ first responders are specially trained to respond to the enormous variety of potentially fatal accidents that may occur in this urbanized area.

Special rescue-related features of the truck include much more powerful, pneumatic tools to reach trapped people; an inflatable boat; and specialized trench rescue equipment to stabilize the sites of cave-ins. Also, unlike the previous generation of such rescue vehicles, emergency responders will be able to access needed equipment instantly from either side of the truck as soon as it reaches an accident site.

Hamstra said that last year, The University Hospital's EMS responded to more than 3,000 rescue calls which involved rescues for which the new truck will be used, such as the use of hydraulic equipment for cutting and extrication, trench rescues, and the release of victims from other types of entrapments.

The truck, which cost $600,000, was manufactured by American LaFrance of Ladson, S.C. American LaFrance is displaying the truck in its annual advertising calendar for 2007 as a demonstration for the EMS staff’s input in the truck’s design.

To arrange to view a mock rescue by the new truck, obtain photos of the truck, or to meet members of the EMS team staffing the truck, please contact Claudie Benjamin, manager of marketing and media relations for The University Hospital, at (973) 972-2887 or at benjamcl@umdnj.edu.

UMDNJ is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health, on five campuses. Last year, there were more than two million patient visits to UMDNJ facilities and faculty at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network.