TENYAS’s life-cycle was started in May 2001. LAS (London Ambulance Service) were the first service to trial a cycling paramedic a year and a half earlier. But does this photograph show that cycling paramedics have been around for much longer than first thought?
One of the two TENYAS Lifecycles outside York ambulance station in October 2001.
This is TENYAS’s life cycle in use. It is a top of the range mountain bike fitted with white lights, blue flashing lights (shown) and a siren, alongside two panniers of medical equipment. Ambulance control have just notified us of an emergency by mobile ‘phone.
Paramedic Mark Inman is responding to a 999 call for an ambulance. He knows all of the short cuts through the city of York to rapidly respond to calls.
Mark has removed the panniers of medical equipment and entered the house of an 89 year old lady. She dialed 999 after damaging her hand by a fall when shopping. Mark arrived in three minutes after zipping through the traffic using his blue flashing lights and sirens.
An ambulance calmly arrives and the lady is prepared for transportation to hospital. Mark contacts the control room to let them know the details of the call before standing down.
This was the first bicycle to be featured on UKev. On trial for 16 weeks in York’s city centre (during summer 2001, and then made permanent) is TENYAS’s (Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service) paramedic life-cycle, fully equipped to cope with any emergency. The bike is quicker at getting through the tight, winding streets of York than a regular ambulance.
It is fitted out with white lights alongside blue flashing lights and a siren! The siren is similar to a car alarm, with the power provided by a large battery fitted where the water bottle would normally be. It also has a speedometer fitted.
There are two identical bikes, but only one paramedic to ride them. He responds to 2-3 calls per shift, travels about 30 miles per day, and is only used during daylight hours. Both bikes were donated by a private company. The panniers are heavily laden with equipment including an oxygen supply and a defibrillator. They lift off the bike to be carried to a casualty. The rider is equipped with a radio and a mobile telephone for communications. The real benefit of this system is that it is an inexpensive way of having an extra ‘ambulance’ on the road that can respond to emergencies.