Flushing Hospital Unveils First-Response Bicycle Teams

The initiative takes a page out of the NYPDs book, which has been utilizing the bicycle patrols with considerable success since 1992. For the Police Department itself, according to a spokesperson at DCPI, it was a trip to history books that produced the idea. Back in 1897, President Theodore Roosevelt introduced first-ever police bicycle patrols in major cities. They were discontinued in the 1920s, when the rampant crime and unrestricted weaponry on the streets made the lightly armed and unarmored bicycle patrol an easy target.
The main advantage of the two-wheeled patrol officers, whether police or EMS, is that they often can get through to the scene of emergency faster than the motorized ambulances that must battle traffic. They also can access narrow alleys and areas with heavy pedestrian traffic congestion – places that are virtually inaccessible by the EMS vans.
The borough hospitals are at the forefront of the new program. Jamaica Hospital was the first hospital in the country to offer such a program in 1997. Initially, Bike Medics patrolled only in the area of Forest Park and only during the busy summer months, in order to quickly reach and treat injuries in heavily wooded and off-road areas. The program proved to be so successful and popular with both residents and elected officials, it soon spread to other frequently trafficked busy districts in the area. When MediSys, Jamaica Hospitals parent organization, assumed the operation of Flushing Hospital, bringing the Bike Medics to the hospital was a natural decision.
With the input from many community leaders, Flushing Hospital program coordinators decided the downtown district, more specifically the area between Northern Blvd., Sanford Ave., College Point Blvd. and Booth Memorial Ave., with its many stores and crowded streets, would benefit the most from the program.
The staff of certified EMTs, presently numbering 20 for both Jamaica and Flushing hospitals, undergoes an intense training course in both operating their state-of-the-art, multiple-terrain mountain bikes and administering first-response treatment and life support. Aware of the large Asian community in the area, Flushing Hospital also arranged to provide Bike Medics fluent in Korean and both Mandarin and Cantonese dialects of Chinese. The program is scheduled to have Bike Medics on patrol every Wed. through Sun., from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.