PHOTOS: United Hatzalah Introduces Its Newest Mini Metro Response Vehicle

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Welcome to the next step in EMS innovation. United Hatzalah has been at the pinnacle of EMS innovation for the past decade, having introduced the ambucycle, a motorcycle with all of the medical equipment as well as other innovations to improve prehospital response and care.

Now the organization is inaugurating a new vehicle to be used in dense metropolitan areas where parking and pollution are major problems.

The newest response vehicle is being dubbed the “Mini-Lance”. It is an electrical smart-car that allows two responders to travel together inside metropolitan areas providing fast EMS response. Like its progenitor, the Mini-Lance will contain a full complement of medical equipment appropriate for the level of the responder driving it. EMTs will carry a basic life support (BLS) pack, while volunteer paramedics and doctors will carry advanced life support (ALS) packs in the trunk.

The compact vehicle allows for two volunteer responders to travel together in the vehicle while bringing their medical equipment such as a defibrillator and an extra oxygen tank if necessary. The vehicle, which is the first electric response EMS vehicle for urban areas, has a total length of 200 centimeters, a width of 130 centimeters, and can traverse 100 kilometers without recharging which makes it ideal for metropolitan travel.

President and Founder of United Hatzalah Eli Beer spoke about why the organization decided to go in this direction when choosing a new vehicle. “United Hatzalah is always looking to cut down our response times and enable our volunteers to reach the people in need of medical help faster. This vehicle allows us to do that in densely populated urban areas. When thinking about the next wave of innovation in the field of EMS we have to look one step further than that as well. While arriving at the patient quickly is our main goal cutting down on our carbon footprint is also very important as is providing an alternate option to big bulky ambulances on congested city streets and freeways with less of a carbon footprint than our ambucycles. The Mini-Lance allows us to achieve all of these goals simultaneously and hence, is our next step in providing fast EMS response in dense urban areas.”