Ambulance New Brunswick replacing fleet with safer, roomier vehicles

Ambulance New Brunswick has begun to replace its fleet of 134 vehicles.

The new design is unique to the province and is now being shown around North America. Each vehicle has almost twice as much space inside for paramedics and their patients.

“We’ve looked at ergonomics, loading heights, we’ve looked at the paramedics being fastened over the course of their duties in the back of the ambulance and treating of the patient,” says fleet manager Danny Bulmer.

Bulmer says the new design is safer for both paramedics and patients; paramedics sat on a bench with only a lap belt keeping them secure in the older vehicles.

“Paramedics can be seat-belted in, they can turn and face their patient, they can turn and face their cardiac monitor or gain access to all their commonly used drugs and medication and dressage,” he says.

Malley Industries in Dieppe has supplied Ambulance New Brunswick with vehicles since 1999. The design is new and the vehicles’ heavy-duty plastic walls can be produced in about 10 minutes.

“From a safety point of view, what we’ve done is we’ve removed some of the solid structures that were in the vehicle and now we have composite interiors that basically gives and moves and has flexibility,” says Steen Gunderson, vice-president of operations for Malley Industries.

Paramedics, health officials and representatives from Malley Industries all had a hand in the design of the ambulance.

“There’s lots of space for the paramedic to get in and out of the vehicle,” says Jean-Marc Dugas of Ambulance New Brunswick. “You don’t have to fight with the doors because there’s lots of space.”

Two new ambulances are already in service and two more will hit the road in the next few days. Forty of the new ambulances will be in circulation by the end of the year while the entire 134-vehicle fleet will be replaced over the next four years.

Each vehicle costs about $150,000, for a total of a little more than $20 million to replace the entire fleet.

The design is now being tested in other markets around North America.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jonathan MacInnis

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  Ambulance New Brunswick has begun to replace its fleet of 134 vehicles. Each vehicle has almost twice as much space inside for paramedics and their patients.