The Mercedes-Benz Citaro, now the largest intensive care ambulance in Germany, is to be used by Heidenheim-Ulm branch of the German Red Cross Emergency Medical Services.
The joint project is supported by the University Hospital in Ulm, which is providing specialised medical staff, and bus operator SWU Stadtwerke Ulm/Neu-Ulm, which is providing drivers and maintenance personnel.
The vehicle is a loan; initially it will be available to the German Red Cross for a period of six months.
David Richter, MD of the Red Cross branch, had the idea of converting a bus in response to the need to increase intensive care transportation capacities, now necessary in many places. Only a few days later a demonstration vehicle on stock at Daimler Buses was presented for conversion. A team of 12 employees from bus production in Neu-Ulm converted the bus to a high-capacity critical care ambulance in just 15 working days. Both the conversion and the supply of the medical equipment were completed in close cooperation with the Red Cross.
"The high-capacity critical care ambulance puts DRK-Rettungsdienst Heidenheim-Ulm and the doctors from Ulm's University Hospital in a position to efficiently relieve hospitals where intensive care beds are in short supply. And not only in the Ulm/Neu-Ulm area but in other regions and states," he says.
The organisation’s district medical officer, one Professor Kühlmuss, adds: "Something that normally would take months and years was implemented within a few weeks together with Daimler Buses in an exemplary fashion. And in doing so, this is not just a bus, but an efficient transportation and relief concept. In my opinion this is only possible with such a transportation capacity."
The 2019-built inter-city Citaro bus was originally built with 45 seats and standing room for 40 persons. It is now equipped with four complete intensive care beds for its new function. Thanks to the repurposed bus, the German Red Cross in Ulm can react fast and transport intensive care patients to other hospitals if necessary. The journeys are supervised by two intensive-care doctors from the University Hospital in Ulm. Three paramedics and two ambulance officers supplied by the Red Cross branch are also on board.
The bus is equipped with four electrohydraulic wheeled stretchers with a loading system, four intensive care ventilators, four monitoring screens, a sonography unit and a blood gas analysis device, for example. The staff from Daimler Buses also created stowage space for sufficient medicines, nursing equipment, additional breathing apparatus and protective clothing. The Mercedes-Benz Citaro has been repurposed so that the patients can be transported in various positions. The side windows of the DRK bus have been laminated for privacy. The bus has also been equipped with a blue light and a siren.
As the bus will focus on transporting COVID-19 patients, hygienic demands played an important role during the conversion. For example, a disinfectant sprayer can be used in the patient compartment once transportation is completed. The area for the driver is separated from the patient compartment by a wall; the ventilation system has been converted. As a result the driver has no contact with patients so is not exposed to any infection.