About this episode
Darren Reaume, director of training at Q'STRAINT, and Oli Davalos, product manager for its securement stations, join Nirav Chheda and co-host John Maselli of Model 1 in the company's 40th year to argue that most wheelchair incidents are not crashes. They are routine drives where the occupant securement was rushed, and Reaume cites University of Michigan research that nine of ten incidents in which a passenger leaves the mobility device end up fatal. Against that, the blanket five minutes per passenger baked into many schedules is what makes drivers hurry the last step.
Key takeaways
- The ADA minimum securement space, 30 inches by 48 inches, was written in 1990. Reaume tells buyers to spec larger, around 52 inches, because both devices and passengers have grown since.
- Securement equipment should meet WC18, the industry best practice standard effective in 2016 that demands far more rigorous crash testing. Reaume frames it as the defensible position on liability.
- Four-point wheelchair tie downs cannot secure a stretcher. Reaume fields 15 to 20 requests a year asking how, and the answer is that there are no crash-tested attachment points on the frame.
- Driver turnover erases training. Q'STRAINT runs free monthly certification webinars, Securement 101 and 102 on demand, and answers photo support tickets with a video answer usually inside 48 hours.
- Davalos says EMS crash standards tightened in 2016, and Ambulock applies that ambulance-grade docking to NEMT stretchers, with a compatibility bracket so one vehicle can take different stretchers.
Chapters
- 0:00 Introduction
- 1:26 Q'STRAINT's background
- 5:54 How to get the right securement product
- 10:14 How to get drivers trained on using securement products
- 16:52 Risks of not properly using securement devices
- 22:10 How long it should take to load and secure a passenger
- 26:59 Innovation in stretcher securement: Ambulok product
- 31:37 Model 1 bringing securement devices to end users
- 39:13 The rise of securement device usage
- 44:45 RUN BAMBI RUN!!
