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Gwinnett Daily Post SUNDAY, JUNE 1, 2014
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Awesome ambulance
Vol. 44, No. 168
AS FIRST REPORTED on gwinnettdailypost.com
BOC talks ethics as a priority By Camie Young camie.young@gwinnettdailypost.com
Two years removed from the imprisonment of a county commissioner, Gwinnett officials debated whether the culture of leadership in the county government has improved. “You can’t achieve leadership in a year,” Commissioner Lynette Howard said Friday during the second day of a strategic planning session for the county government . “You have to make sure that we send a message … that leadership is important and its still at the top of our priorities.” The issue was No. 1 on a priority list devised by commissioners during a planning session a year ago. On Friday, though, one commissioner said the item could be removed from the list of action items and be placed into a “maintenance” state. “I think we’ve worked that up pretty See BOC, Page 9A
The Gwinnett County Fire Department has one of two medical ambulance buses in the state. This unique vehicle, seen from outside at top, provides rehab for firefighters and/or is able to treat up to 12 stretcher patients at the same time on the truck. Above, Lt. Jerrod Barrett, center, and Lt. John Poe demonstrate how the wireless vital signs monitor operates. (Staff Photo: Brendan Sullivan)
Fire vehicle a mini-hospital on wheels By Camie Young
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They call it Rehab 7. Or sometimes Medical Ambulance Bus 2. The 1-year-old addition to the Gwinnett County Fire Department fleet gives local first responders a mini-hospital on wheels, allowing for response at mass casualty incidents. A 31,000-pound beast — closer in size to a ladder truck than the typical ambulance — helps paramedics monitor a dozen patients at once or help their fellow firefighters recover from the intense heat and smoke while battling a blaze. Paid for by a more than $337,000 grant from the Urban Area Security Initiative of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the medical ambulance bus is the second in the metro Atlanta area designed to handle regional responses. With the first stationed near the airport in Atlanta, either could help out neighboring counties in major incidents. “It’s very useful,” said Lt. Jer-
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Lt. Jerrod Barrett of the Gwinnett County Fire Department gives a tour of the medical ambulance bus. (Staff Photo: Brendan Sullivan)
rod Barrett, giving a tour of the MAB at its home base, Station 7 in Duluth. The versatile apparatus has everything from a wireless monitoring system to a 3,000-pound winch to help paramedics load morbidly obese patients into the ambulance. With slots for stacked cots and the ability to lock wheelchairs in place, the bus has room for 12 patients on stretchers or nine wheelchaired
patients. “It can give them a good, safe ride,” Barrett said, adding that the equipment allows for up to 16 firefighters to be monitored while they recover from battling a fire. The medical ambulance bus isn’t always the proper equipment for a scene. For example, last week’s fatal crash along Ga. Highway 316, where medics quickly loaded three critical patients into ambulances and
See BUS, Page 9A
Reunion celebrates lives, growth of GMC’s preemies By Tyler Estep tyler.estep@gwinnettdailypost.com
LAWRENCEVILLE — It’s been more than a year since the battle was over, but Digna Hernandez still can’t have a conversation about it — her son, a miracle — without crying. Elias Hernandez was born on Dec. 3, 2012, just 27 weeks into his mother’s pregnancy. He weighed two pounds, six ounces, and he suffered from bilateral bleeding, pulmonary hemorrhaging and a perforated bowel, among other things. He had five surgeries and, 17 days into his life, “coded” — the medical term that essentially means “started dying.” “I was told that it was likely that he See REUNION, Page 9A
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whisked them to nearby Gwinnett Medical Center. With the need for one-on-one care, critical patients will always be transported in a regular ambulance. “This is designed more for the walking wounded,” Barrett said, pointing out the wireless vital sign meters, used by Navy Seals during operations, which can allow medics to keep an eye on many patients at once. Instead of the crash, he described a scene from last year, where a strange odor was detected at a nearby business, and several people began to feel sick. “We had 16 patients,” he recalls. “We were able to have all of them in the truck, treated them and released them.” While other responders worked to trace the source of the odor inside, the medics were working in the 34-foot-long
Elias Hernandez eats with his father, also Elias, Saturday at the Gwinnett Medical Center Resource Center. The hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit hosted a “NICU graduate reunion,” welcoming in about 200 former patients. (Staff Photo: Tyler Estep)
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