Emergency Vehicle Operation at Gold Cross: Keeping our Employees, Patients, and the Public Safe.
Happy Friday! Today, nine Gold Cross Ambulance Paramedics and EMTs, myself included, completed the EVOC refresher at Fox Valley Technical College Public Safety Training Center. EVOC, or Emergency Vehicle Operation Course, is designed to teach Emergency Vehicle Drivers safe driving techniques for driving with or without lights and sirens. Activities in the course include safe backing, serpentine maneuvers, emergency stopping, road recovery and accident avoidance. All Emergency Drivers are required to renew this certification every 2 years.
From 1999-2011, there was an estimated 4,500 ambulance crashes per year nationwide with an average of 33 deaths per year[1]. By providing this training to our employees, we are helping to reduce these accidents not only to protect our staff, but our patients, their families and the communities we serve. In addition to EVOC, Gold Cross deploys multiple pieces of technology to improve safety while driving the ambulance, this includes Zoll Road Safety and video recording drive cams.
[1] EMS.GOV Article https://www.ems.gov/pdf/EMSWorldAmbulanceCrashArticlesSept2015.pdf
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