Are Drivers Really This Bad?

Are all drivers in Vancouver so lazy that they can’t stop for a red right? Or perhaps they’re in too much of a rush to get somewhere? Maybe they just don’t have any regard for their safety and those around them. Drive anywhere in Metro Vancouver and you can count a multitude of inconsiderate and ignorant drivers blowing through red lights. And to make life interesting you have the other absentminded drivers who go through the green light without looking and almost crashing into the red light runner. Then there’s the speeders and aggressive drivers who always have the right of way. As a Paramedic we see our fair share of crashes; from the minor fender benders in stop and go traffic to the high speed highway crashes. All come with their fair share of challenges. Recently we treated a patient who needed to go to the hospital with a Code 3 response (lights and sirens). We explained to the family what was happening and gave them directions to the hospital we would be attending. So the family jumps into their car and proceeds to follow us at the same speed trailing our ambulance by about twenty feet. Of course, he did put on his four-way flashers, which makes it perfectly acceptable (sarcasm!). The kicker came when “we” approached a congested intersection and I had to take the ambulance into oncoming traffic against a red light- and looking into my rear view mirror I saw the family vehicle still following us; against oncoming traffic and a red light!! It was at this point that I had to pull over the ambulance, walk back to the vehicle and explain “politely” that you can’t drive like that- EVER! And we wonder why our vehicle insurance is so high?

 

Press Release Announcing the ResQ Scan Bracelet

Paramedic Embraces Technology with the Launch of New Medical I.D Service

Maple Ridge, B.C. – May 23, 2013: An exciting new medical identification service has launched that uses smartphone technology to obtain critical medical and personal information. Seeing the need for a product that provides more reliable and detailed medical I.D., a local Paramedic has developed the ResQ Scan Bracelet in an effort to provide paramedics and other emergency personnel a means of obtaining important information. When patients aren’t able to provide their information to rescuers, a scan of their unique QR code bracelet will do it for them.

“The ResQ Scan Bracelet was developed with one goal in mind- to provide timely and detailed medical information to emergency personnel- when the patient can’t to do so for themselves.” said Lee Roberts, Owner and creator of the ResQ Scan Bracelet. “There’s a real benefit to using QR Codes, as it allows us to create a dynamic profile that can be changed whenever the customer needs to update their information, such as a change in prescription medications. Plus the code will hold an unlimited amount of information, including an “ICE” (in case of emergency) contact number, health care numbers, allergies and much more”.

Quick Response Codes, or QR Codes were originally designed for the Japanese automotive industry as a quick and reliable way of tracking vehicles during the manufacturing process. Today, they are quickly gaining popularity in the advertising and marketing industry as they can be seen in magazines, flyers and other promotional material. As they’re designed to allow high speed scanning, QR Codes are ideal for retrieving medical information in an emergency.

Based in Maple Ridge, ResQ Scan Communication is owned by Lee Roberts, who has over thirteen years of experience as a Paramedic as well as a background in business and marketing. Having attended thousands of medical emergencies, Roberts has seen many patients that do not carry proper identification with them; the ResQ Scan Bracelet was developed with one specific goal, and that’s to provide more information in the event of a personal emergency. The company’s short term goals are to establish itself in the local market before expanding regionally and nationally; as well as developing a proprietary mobile application for first responders