NEW AMBULANCE WILL BE NEEDED

Taupo Times, Volume 19, Issue 100, 30 December 1970, Page 6

NEW AMBULANCE WILL BE NEEDED

Taupo 's new hospital, which is due to come into operation late in 1971, will probably mean an extra work load on the two Dodge ambulances at present being operated by the Taupo St John Ambulance Association.

Although the ambulances are kept busy at present ferrying patients to and from Rotorua Hospital, when the Taupo Hospital comes into operation the work load is likely to increase substantially. Association officials are investigating proposals to increase the strength of the ambulance numbers, and among the proposals is a smaller, station-wagon type of vehicle. In other centres, particularly Hamilton a lighter ambulance has been in use for several months and has proved a boon The two Dodge ambulances in Taupo are built on truck-type chassis and cost about twice as much as the lighter vehicle. Hamilton ambulance officials have found the lighter ambulance more comfortable to ride in than the larger vehicle and operating costs have been considerably reduced. MAIN PROBLEM The biggest problem surrounding the lighter vehicle is, initially, obtaining the chassis to build the ambulance body onto. While undertakers appear to have a free hand in im-

Twenty inflatable inshore rescue craft and 40 engines are being shipped to Pakistan to help in the relief and rescue operations from Britain's Royal National Lifeboat Institute. The boats, each with a spare outboard engine, have been bought by the Red Cross and are pictured here being checked before being deflated and packed. The boats are used for inshore rescue work in the difficult waters around Britain's coasts and can carry eight to 10 people in addition to a one-man crew.

porting all types of vehicles to carry the deceased, ambulance officials run up against all sorts of problems when they want to import a vehicle to carry the living in comfort. The station-wagon type of ambulance would find a much more receptive market at time of replacement than the larger vehicle. The cost of the smaller ambulance is in the vicinity of $4500, or about half the cost of the larger vehicle, and, if it is accepted by the Taupo association, would prove much cheaper to run. For the same price as a large ambulance there could be two of the smaller type running at probably less the cost than one of the heavier vehicles. The present ambulances are three and six years old and it is only due to the fine maintenance of the older vehicle that it has not had to be replaced yet CONDITION Ambulances are generally replaced after clocking 100,000 miles, but the 1964 Dodge is still in good condition after 120,000 miles, this in spite of some fairly tough roads in the district. The younger ambulance, at three years, has already

run up 70,000 miles demonstrating the terrific work load that these two vehicles are at present carrying. The lighter type of ambulance, tried successfully in Australia, has been developed to the extent that the latest type carries two stretchers under normal conditions and can hold four in an emergency.