IPMBA News

Bike medics ride high to give aid

By Jay Heater, the Republic, August 8, 2015

Columbus IN -- It was going to be a horribly boring 32 hours.

Jeramy Goodnight, an advanced emergency medical technician for Columbus Regional Hospital, had volunteered to take the International Police Mountain Bike Association course so that he would be certified to patrol events on a bike and administer medical care.

Goodnight has long been an avid cyclist who owns a Trek mountain bike.

“You go in there thinking, ‘I have ridden a bike since I was 5,’” Goodnight said during a shift at the Central Ambulance Station.

“Then they set up the cone course and you think, ‘We’re going to fail.’”

Besides his bicycle being loaded down with panniers holding medical equipment, Goodnight simply wasn’t used to crawling through obstacles.

“The instructors told us, ‘We’re going to teach you how to ride a bike slow,’” Goodnight said. “I finally passed.”

Goodnight is one of six EMTs for Columbus Regional who is certified to ride a bike and deliver medical care. The Columbus Fire Department also has six of its employees certified after taking the four-day course. Both programs utilizing bike medics are less than two years old.

The result is that both Columbus Regional and the fire department will be able to staff the Mill Race Marathon on Sept. 26 with bike medics.

“It can be a lot more efficient to navigate on bicycles,” said Adam Hoskins, manager of ambulance services for Columbus Regional.

“We’ve done four events so far, and I think a big thing is the community awareness that we are out there.”

Being a little higher up on a bicycle, the medics will get a better view of the crowd and also will be easily seen by anyone who needs attention.

Each bicycle will carry oxygen bottles, defibrillators, IV supplies and general safety equipment such as bandages and cold packs.

Hoskins said his bike medics staffed Aviation Day on June 13 at the Columbus Municipal Airport.

“It has been a learning curve on my part,” Hoskins said. “I need to break the shifts up. They are constantly roaming.”

Columbus Regional used its bike medics during the July 3 QMIX fireworks show.

“I like the community interaction,” Goodnight said. “And it is easy to slide through the crowd on a bike. I thought it was much more efficient.”

Mike Kutsko, the deputy chief of EMS for the Columbus Fire Department, will coordinate medical coverage of the Mill Race Marathon with Hoskins. Both Columbus Regional and the fire department will have two bike medics patrolling the event.

Kutsko, who won’t be riding a bike during the marathon as he helps coordinate safety procedures, took the IPMBA course in 2013 along with Eric Darlage, the fire department’s training officer.

“Bicycles are good for navigating in densely populated areas,” Kutsko said. “They give you a little better visibility over the crowd.

But you have to learn tactical riding techniques and that takes a lot of skill. You have to learn how not to run into somebody. And those panniers throw off the center of gravity.”

Kutsko said he is interested to see how efficient it will be to patrol the marathon crowd with the bicycles.

Besides the cyclists, medical personnel will be patrolling the course in golf carts, ambulances and other emergency vehicles.

Typically, medical personnel won’t approach runners unless they ask for help, Hoskins said, but they do keep an eye out for warning signs such as people who have stopped sweating.

The fire department has purchased four bicycles for the bike medic program while Columbus Regional has purchased two bikes.

Goodnight said he uses his own bicycle when he works a bike medic shift.

Kutsko also noted that the Columbus Police Department is likely to patrol the marathon with officers riding bicycles as well.

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