Mini-Might: Tucson Medic’s Invention Puts Backboards On Wheels

There's not much in EMS that intimidates a new EMT more than running out of fingers to count patients at one scene. And here's a secret: there's not much in EMS that intimidates an old pro more than that, either.

Once the triage is done, what's an engine company and a two-person EMS crew supposed to do with a dozen or more patients? Even when help starts arriving, getting large numbers of people into small numbers of ambulances can tax the brightest scene manager and strain the backs of whomever ends up carrying 'em all from place to place.

Paco Nieto, a Tucson Fire Department medic, has developed a solution to moving people on backboards. The RescuExpress enables a single caregiver to move a backboarded patient (or a load of equipment) on a pair of wheels from one area to another. The wheels are fitted with 10" soft tires designed like the flat-proof kind advertised by Michelin.

Nieto's creation looks like a cross between a furniture dolly and a wheelbarrow. The wheels are at one end on a rigid axle like you'd find on a heavy-duty dolly. On the other end is a pair of folding wheelbarrow-type handles. The handles are angled to keep things just about horizontal under load. Also like a wheelbarrow, this tool has a permanent support bracket near its middle to keep it horizontal when not in motion. The frame is made out of 1" welded .093 box iron. It telescopes from a full length of 100 inches to a storage length of about half that. Its chassis is wide enough to carry any backboard or scoop stretcher you've ever seen, and you could carry a half-dozen units in an ordinary pickup truck.

The RescuExpress weighs 46 lbs. and is designed to enable one caregiver to move a maximum load of 350 lbs. Obviously, that load could consist of rescue gear (or a stack of additional rescue dollies) just as easily as a patient.

Contact Nieto via his website, www.rescuexpress.com, or e-mail him at rescuexpress@yahoo.com. You can also reach him at 7838 E. River Forest Place, Tucson, AZ 85715; 520/975-0121.