British Red Cross - Emergency Response Units
11 December 2007
The London Area Red Cross plans to add six new Emergency Response Units to its vehicle fleet over the next two years. Three of these vehicles will be ready for deployment in 2007, with the first launched this month.
Equipped to provide patient care during transport to hospitals these vehicles will severely reduce the strain on the statutory services during the event of a major incident by providing a new and distinctive package designed to cater to the walking wounded and uninjured survivors.
The vehicle will be manned by extensively trained British Red Cross volunteers and staff, who will offer immediate clinical as well as emotional support to patients. These vehicles’ multi purpose nature means they can be used to transport vulnerable people to and from hospital and at public events they can be used as operational rest areas or treatment centres.
The British Red Cross in London have also been working closely alongside local authorities in developing a predetermined response to a local rest centre following a fire, flood or similar incident. The ERU will be an essential part of this response, providing a means to transport vulnerable people to or from a rest centre and if necessary providing a specialised service for elderly or disabled people who have been displaced.