East of England Ambulance Service launch HART team
Monday, 10 May, 2010
On Friday, April 30, the East of England Ambulance Service officially unveiled their Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), at a special event held at the fire service regional control centre in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire.
Trust staff, invited guests and guest speakers enjoyed the brilliant sunshine and the static display laid on by the HART, SORT and CBRN teams. The day was opened by chief executive, Hayden Newton, who talked about the national perspective of HART. Steven Moore, HART Manager, gave an overview of the team and how they will operate, he said: "Historically treatment of patients didn't happen until after the Fire and Rescue Service had arranged for the patient to be brought out of the major incident inner cordon (the hot zone)."
"Specialist training and personal protective equipment (PPE) has given our HART paramedics and EMTs the skills and equipment to get to a patient in a hazardous environment, in a confined space or those trapped at height, so we can work alongside the fire and police services and provide life saving treatment and in situations we haven't operated in before."
As the sun shined over the impressive array of vehicles, which included the command and control vehicle and incident support units, the guests had the opportunity to spend time and meet up with the members of the teams. David Donegan, chief operating officer said: "I am very proud that we have a dedicated team ready to respond to serious and untoward incidents within the East of England. What I saw at the launch, and the HART team members I talked to, I am sure the patients will be receiving the highest quality and standard of care throughout the trust."
