I arranged to drive Paul Nichols Jr. on Annandale Med-8 during A-shift’s fourth night for a couple of weeks. I wanted to get additional patient care encounters to quickly finish my paramedic internship. Med-8’s vehicle was part of the third round of county-purchased ambulances. They bought 1976 Chevy Type I’s from the Atlantic Research Corporation. This Alexandria-based company built the first generation of paramedic ambulances for Fairfax and Montgomery.

They were solidly built, with well-engineered patient care interiors that featured sliding clear compartment doors, flat work areas, and ample cabinets. Med-8 was busy, running from call-to-call every night. Montgomery County was running two 1974 ARC rigs, they also were run hard. I did a ride-along in Wheaton Medic 2 and remember seeing a smoke detector that the crew placed on the patient care compartment ceiling as the unit was prone to overheat.

Riding Wheaton Medic 2 inspired a short-lived experiment in Med-8 emergency lighting. At that time the Commonwealth of Virginia only allowed red emergency lights. One of the lamps in Med-8’s Twinsonic light bar burned out. Since the light bar had a clear cover, I decided to use a white lamp instead of a red lamp. To be consistent, replaced a red lamp on the other side of the light bar as well.

Wow, what a difference when responding at night. We felt like we were parting traffic like the Red Sea with our red/white light bar. Now the emergency lights matched the performance of the big block Chevy ambulance. It was fantastic.

The bright red face of the station commander the next morning was not so fantastic. He made sure that I restored Med-8 to meet the state emergency lighting regulations before I left the fire station.

While that was a frustrating “growth experience” for me, it was a minor blip after the fourth set of county ambulances were delivered. Low-bid plastic interiors in the patient care compartment that resembled a shower insert for a bathroom. No place to mount the LifePack 5. The cabinet spaces were small and wavy, with thin plexiglass panels mounted on small piano hinges using Velcro tabs to keep the cabinet closed. One sharp turn will dump half of the cabinet contents.

The administrative officer who ordered these units could not understand why they were unacceptable as ALS transport units. He probably was able to buy 4 of them for the same price he paid for 3 ARC rigs. What would paramedics know about buying an ambulance? Thankfully, this growth experience was the lowest point in county ambulance procurement.

A couple of years later this white shirt was in the last class of incumbent employees getting their initial EMT-Ambulance training – Paul and I were instructors. I still miss Paul and the era when we felt we would change the world.

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Elements. identifiers and sequence of events may be altered in “war stories” to protect the innocent or work better as an example.