Look at Us Now

As a new “culture of safety” emerges in EMS, one small service in rural New Mexico has taken a big leap in ambulance visibility that many larger services have not.

New Mexico is the fifth-largest state in the U.S., at around 123,000 square miles, but its population of only about 2 million makes it 46th in population density. Over half of the state’s population lives in the Albuquerque metropolitan area.

Forty miles north of the metro area is the Santo Domingo Pueblo Indian reservation, with a population of about 5,000. The Pueblo has its own EMS service, Santo Domingo EMS, which has existed since 2003.

This service responds to the pueblos of Santo Domingo, San Felipe and Cochiti, along with a handful of nearby towns. This relatively large area contains only about 10,000 residents, plus a nearly 20-mile stretch of interstate (where the speed limit is 75).

Santo Domingo EMS has one ambulance and nine full-time providers, including one paramedic, and responds to about 800 calls per year. Due to an overwhelming need, the service is in the process of converting to a fire service, and it recently expanded into a new $3 million station, with the addition of an engine, a brush truck and a chief’s/utility vehicle.

Josh Shraeder heads the new and improved service, known as Santo Domingo Fire and EMS. He currently acts as EMS director, fire chief and emergency manager.

Their lone ambulance, a Wheeled Coach purchased new in 2010 by the IHS (Indian Health Services) and GSA (General Services Administration), arrived in typical fashion, with one Star of Life and one horizontal stripe down each side.

In conjunction with the service’s new status and station, an upgrade to the appearance of the ambulance seemed in order. Leaders recognized this as the perfect opportunity to jump into this new culture of safety.

One employee, Marvin Martinez, EMT-I, a six-year veteran, took it upon himself to find an innovative exterior design that would fit Santo Domingo’s needs. He scoured the internet with a “high-visibility” concept in mind. He was intrigued by the European designs he found, and eventually discovered a service in Oregon with a Euro-esque design that appeared highly visible, stylish and innovative.

Martinez compiled photos and ideas, presented them to the tribal government and received the go-ahead for a $5,500 exterior makeover. In collaboration with Dr. Vinyl, a local vehicle-striping business, a design was finalized. The actual cost was only $2,500, and the result is a strong example of safer ambulance livery concepts.

Looking at the photos, you can clearly see this vehicle is highly visible. Here are the highlights:

• All stripes, decals and lettering are retroreflective.

• Stripes are in a chevron pattern on the rear of the vehicle, including panels inside the doors.

• A nearly full-height Star of Life on the side indicates the height of the vehicle.

• The stripe is not horizontal but broken up, and extends to the front to indicate vehicle length.

• A checkerboard pattern below the stripe further increases visibility.

• Two Stars of Life on the front of the box provide additional visibility and indicate vehicle height from the front.

In addition, the interior of the ambulance was originally equipped with two padded cabinets at the bulkhead and a net at the head of the bench seat.

Thankfully, Santo Domingo has not yet experienced a crash, before or after the changes, but employees report a palpable feeling of safety while on scene at the roadside.

This tiny rural EMS service, with desire and Internet research, created a striping design that stands out. They have succeeded where others have failed and many, in fact, have not yet tried. This is an example for all services around the country: Appropriate and cost-effective safety improvements can be accomplished by anyone, anywhere.

David J. Turner, IC, NREMT-P, has more than 20 years of experience in EMS as a provider, fire/EMS lieutenant, field supervisor, educator and author. He has been a member of the EMS Safety Foundation for five years. Dave is currently a paramedic and educator in Albuquerque, NM.