News

Ohio Health Network to Launch New Patient Transportation Fleet

Randy Tucker

07/06/2016

July 07--Kettering Health Network has announced a partnership with Buckeye Ambulance that includes a new fleet of 26 vehicles to transport patients.

The new fleet, known as Kettering Mobile Care, is scheduled to launch in about three months and will include two mobile intensive care units, two response vehicles, 17 ambulances and five ambulettes, according to Kettering Health officials, who announced the partnership at a press conference Wednesday at Soin Medical Center in Beavercreek.

Each vehicle will be dedicated solely to transporting patients and will be equipped with heart monitors and other technology, including electronic medical record technology so emergency workers can transfer patient medical records to the health system's hospitals, emergency departments and outpatient facilities.

The vehicles will also be equipped with GPS tracking systems that will allow dispatchers to send the closest vehicle to pick up a patient, reducing response times.

Dereck Pristas, Buckeye's president and CEO, said the fleet will provide the local community with a new level of access to medical transportation.

"This partnership means a lot to us and to the entire community," Pristas said. "It increases access for patients who we are able to transfer from outlying communities and hospitals and get them back to their homes or back to nursing homes and move them from one hospital to another hospital when that's more appropriate."

The health system said it's "expanding its services to meet increased patient volumes, especially in our freestanding emergency centers and rural facilities."

"This partnership between Kettering Health Network and Buckeye Ambulance will greatly improve the continuity of care for our patients," said Kettering CEO Fred Manchur.