# Discharged patient steals ambulance



## crash_cart (Apr 15, 2008)

It's true, I swear.  You just know this is one of those stories that will be told a thousand times for years to come.^_^


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## Airwaygoddess (Apr 15, 2008)

*Ambulance poaching!*

Something to be said about leaving the keys in the rig........ YIKES!


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## enjoynz (Apr 15, 2008)

We had a psych patient, pinch one at the hospital in our region, earlier this year.
They didn't get very far with the tracking device and the police on their tail.
How many services leave the keys in their trucks at hospital? Heaps I bet!

Cheers Enjoynz


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## Flight-LP (Apr 15, 2008)

Once again, LOCK THE AMBULANCE!!!!!! No excuse for this occurance. Completely avoidable and the fault lies with the crew...................


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## JPINFV (Apr 15, 2008)

Only reason that the ambulance should be unlocked with the keys in the ignition is if the ambulance is parked with the warning (secondary) lights running. For the most part (really cold weather?), there really isn't any reason to leave your engine running while not in the ambulance.


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## LE-EMT (Apr 16, 2008)

Thats interesting...... I leave my patrol car with the keys in the ignition and running ummmm I would say well about 90 percent of the time...  and I know of several if not most cops who do the same..  but we have nifty little things called a spare set of keys or remote key entry that is always ON OUR PERSON.  Its force of habit for me to hit the door lock on the way out of my ride. whether its running or not.   I couldn't really tell you why its done.  I am sure if I really wanted to think about it I could come up with several reasons...  Safety is probably the biggest reason.   So for the person who got his/her ride jacked..... run down to wal-mart and they will make you a spare for like 2 bucks and then you are set and if your company doesn't allow it......well i won't tell if you don't..


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## CrazyCanuck (Apr 16, 2008)

When we park our ambs. in the hospital amb. bays, we usually do leave the keys in the ignition...that way when another unit comes in and there's no room, they can move your unit out of the way.  We've been doing it for years...and haven't had a unit stolen yet.  Not to say it couldn't happen.  We also have a feature in our units that allows you to leave the engine running, lock all your doors and still take your keys with you. A rather nice feature on those frosty -40C winter days.


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## paramedix (Apr 16, 2008)

Funny..., but our hospital manager at the station I used to work "stole" one of our ambulances the one day. The crews left the keys in the bus and left it idling. So he decided to kindly move it away and park it at the main entrance parking...

Lesson learned. Lock it up!


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## Ops Paramedic (Apr 16, 2008)

Hopefully he will enjoy his next ride in a emergency vehicle (Cop car) just as much!!

Yip, we had a locked ambo stolen from inside a locked gate.  Six weeks later we were tipped off that one of our vehicles is an informal settlement.  After driving around for four hours, they found it in a garage.  The owner of the garage said that he had never seen this vehicle before and did not know what it was doing there.  Luckily everything was still as we left it!!  Needles to say he won himself a pair of iron bangles...


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## LucidResq (Apr 16, 2008)

Haha I rode with this ambulance service like 2 days before the incident happened. I didn't notice whether or not they left the keys.


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## Short Bus (Apr 19, 2008)

That is funny.  Heck, we never lock ours up.  Some hospitlas in the area get all kinds of pissy if you take the keys with you and they can not move your unit.

Funny side note, my wife works in the ED, and she had a latino fella that must have been fresh from crossing the fence.  He came to the hospital and told her that he needed help...that his mother had ODed.  Well she thought that the guy had brought her and she was going to get help to get him out of the POV.  He said no no...she is at the house...he needed to borrow one of the trucks that were sitting in the bay to go get his mother.  It took her sometime to convince him that if he took one, he would be going to jail.  Clash of cultures I guess.


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## firecoins (Apr 19, 2008)

Short Bus said:


> That is funny.  Heck, we never lock ours up.  Some hospitlas in the area get all kinds of pissy if you take the keys with you and they can not move your unit..


No one is allowed to move our units except us.  The ED get pissy if you leave the rig on due to fumes getting in the ER


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## Short Bus (Apr 20, 2008)

firecoins said:


> No one is allowed to move our units except us.  The ED get pissy if you leave the rig on due to fumes getting in the ER



We 98% of the time turn our trucks off.  About the only time they don't get turned off is if someone else drives us in to the ED.  They get cut off when we come back out to clean up.


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## MMiz (Apr 20, 2008)

I never kept the ambulance running at the hospital or facilities.  It would only stay running if we were on scene (911).  

I can't imagine someone else hopping in my rig and moving it.  I know that one of our forum members hopped into a rig once, moved it, and nearly/maybe ripped the top of it off at a low entrance.

I can't imagine ever being in a situation where it would be so congested at a hospital that you'd need to move a rig.  While my main hospital had 10+ spots (you'd pull in and back out), even at smaller ones I've never had a problem with finding a spot.  Are your hospitals ultra-busy or just really small?


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## CrazyCanuck (Apr 20, 2008)

We do have lots of bays at the city hospitals, but they are always busy.(nothing to sit in the hosp. halls w/pts for up to 5+hrs). They also have security guards there that only let EMS, Police & Fire members into the amb. bays. Alot of the rural hospitals only have a bay for 1 amb., so if we do move it outside, then we lock it up and take the keys to the crew inside.


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## MedicSqrl (Apr 20, 2008)

For the most part I don't have an issue with it. I forget sometimes to lock the doors, but we have never had an ambulance stolen. Ours aren't shiney enough for people to steal..lol. Plus its annoying when sometimes I get power locks and sometimes I don't. Or the fact that some vehicles have extra keys and some don't. So its just a mixed bag every day I work.


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## BossyCow (Apr 21, 2008)

We leave ours running with the keys inside. If someone were to take it, there's a limited number of places to go with it. The up-side of isolation!


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## jrm818 (Apr 21, 2008)

CrazyCanuck said:


> We do have lots of bays at the city hospitals, but they are always busy.(nothing to sit in the hosp. halls w/pts for up to 5+hrs). They also have security guards there that only let EMS, Police & Fire members into the amb. bays. Alot of the rural hospitals only have a bay for 1 amb., so if we do move it outside, then we lock it up and take the keys to the crew inside.



Woah!  is that 5 hours with you sitting next to them waiting to transfer care?? I can't fathom sitting that long with a patient....what on earth could be going on that it takes that long to transfer the patient?  Our maximum is probably more like 5 minutes.


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