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Arkansas ambulance services make preparations for winter weather

"It's our responsibility to be ready and prepared for that, so that we can serve the public."

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — As city officials are preparing for potential winter weather that's to come, hospitals and ambulance services are doing the same.

Not only do they have to worry about what's on the road, but also the patients in their care.

Preparation for them means anything from setting up cots that hospital employees are able to stay overnight in, to loading up extra warming supplies in every ambulance. 

But, no matter what conditions we wake up to, Dr. Rawle SeuPaul said these healthcare providers won't be taking the day off.

"It really doesn't matter too much that there is some bad weather coming in. It's our responsibility to be ready and prepared for that so that we can serve the public," he said.

As winter weather threats get closer to Arkansas, hospitals and ambulance services said they have plans in place to handle the storm.

"We have an emergency operations plan that once we're under the gun, we activate that plan," Ken Kelley said.

For ambulance companies like Kelley's, that plan includes a lot. The healthcare providers bring extra supplies, such as blankets and warm IV fluids, on the trucks. They also prep chains, deicers, and traction recovery boards, just in case they need help to get moving on the ice.

"We're concerned about how well we will be able to navigate the roadways when they ice up, just like the general public," he said.

Kelley said to make the navigating easier, they monitor roadway conditions constantly with iDrive and Waze. 

The company also has extra staff on stand-by as well, since every response will be delayed.

"You have to account for where you would normally turn a call in less than an hour, it may be three hours before you can turn that call around," Kelley said.

UAMS has a similar inclement weather policy that's always ready. 

Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Rawle SeuPaul, said this means getting staff set up if they need to stay on campus, along with clearing roads, parking decks, and checking backup generators.

"All of the other necessary functions to provide safe and high quality health care are in place and we're ready to go," he said.

When there's bad weather outside the hospital usually sees a reduction in volume inside, according to SeuPaul. 

"If that is the case, it'll give us maybe a little bit of a breather to reduce our capacity in the hospital, which we quite surely need," he said.

But, no matter what mother nature throws our way, these Arkansans are working for you.

"EMS providers will be there if you need them and we just pray that everybody gets through this event safely and we get back to normal," Kelley said.

If you have to be on the roads and hear an ambulance coming up behind you, Kelley said if it's not safe for you to move over to the shoulder of the road, then don't.

He said the main thing they ask is that you just slow down and allow the emergency vehicle to pass around you. 

   

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