WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: Taking a Ride in an Ambulance 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.640 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.840 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio and 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.479 a love of all things tech. It is time or 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:24.239 a tech Stuff classic episode. This episode originally published on 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:29.760 December two, thousand fourteen. It is titled Taking a Ride 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:34.479 in an Ambulance. Firefighting equipment has talked about ad nauseum 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.760 in public forums, and fancy new medical equipment sometimes gets 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.839 the spotlight. But what about the ambulance. I'll admit that 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:44.159 until recently, they hadn't changed significantly since the nineteen seventies 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:46.519 when they were modified from being inspired from hers is 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.720 the only vehicle designed for a passenger lying down at 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:54.520 the time. However, now ambulances range from the massive bariatric 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:57.600 trucks to the new Mercedes Sprinter that have mixed reviews 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:00.440 to work in to the Volvo car based ambul lenses 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:05.679 Europe is experimenting with. It has taken nearly half a century, 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:09.039 but the humble ambulance is beginning to see some innovations, 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.520 including the introduction of safety features. Watch ambulance crash tests 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:16.759 on YouTube. Efficiency and tech to save lives. I'm certainly biased, 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:20.080 being a volunteer medic and having many paramedic friends, but 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.240 maybe you, Scott or Ben and the Tech Stuff audience 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:26.319 could find it an interesting topic to dive into. Take 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:31.119 Care Lee, Yeah, now you know I recognize Lee's name, 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:35.080 and I think this is such a fantastic suggestion. Uh, 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.200 Scott and I have been doing car stuff for quite 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:39.720 a while. Um, not quite as long as Tech Stuff, 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.240 which is one of the original three podcast we ever 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:46.360 started making. But we have this moment which I'm sure 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.360 you've encountered to, Jonathan, where you're looking back over a 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.480 list of all the stuff you've done and you go, way, 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.280 we haven't done this when really, heck, I went to 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.520 how stuff works dot com typed an ambulance. Can't believe 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:01.840 we don't have how ambulances were right? Yeah, and uh 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:06.960 now we are verging on the very first official explanation 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.280 of how ambulances work ever. Ever, not not just for 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.720 how stuff works. I'm saying like no one has taken 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.440 the time to actually explain this until this moment, right, 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:20.280 which might be hyperbole. Scoot to the edge of your seats, 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:24.119 um or you know, if you're driving I guess, uh, 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:28.320 stay focused on the road, right, because it's rule number one. 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:32.160 That's rule number one. Of course, Now we looked into, um, 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.799 we looked into some surprising twist and turns about the 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.960 story of the ambulance. And one of the things that 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:42.679 a lot of people don't really think about is that 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:47.359 the ambulance itself predates the automobile. Yeah. In fact, ambulance 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:50.880 can apply to lots of different types of vehicles. And 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:55.679 to really understand the importance and the place of the ambulance, 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:58.079 you kind of got to look back into history. And 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.400 the word itself, ambulance comes on the Latin word ambulaire 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:06.240 or ambulare if you prefer. I don't speak Latin, so, 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.760 but that means to move about. And the earliest ambulances 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.760 weren't really about necessarily getting sick or injured people to 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.799 medical treatment. They were more about moving them away from 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.080 the healthy people by force, so kind of like a 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:21.280 prison bus for sick people. Now that there were different kinds, right, 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:23.720 You had you had the military type, which was all 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.400 about retrieving injured soldiers and moving them out of the 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.480 field of battle. But then you also had the type 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.080 that were in more populated like urban areas, some of 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:36.920 the growing cities, and that was more about this person 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.280 over year doesn't seem to be acting properly. Let's get 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.240 this person away from everybody else before it spreads. Yeah, 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.800 let's put you on the plague cart. Yeah, and it 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.280 could have been the plague. It could have been mental illness, 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.440 medicine wasn't quite where it was, could have been your neighbors, 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:55.160 or just a bunch of jerks. It will claim that 0:03:55.200 --> 0:04:01.680 you are sick something. Yeah, you got that. That werewolf 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.880 is UM. But if you look at the the development 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.640 of emergency response, you'll see that it is in fact 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.600 closely tied to warfare. Again, not a big surprise. UM. 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.000 During the Roman era, you would have teams of soldiers 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:16.400 that would carry away the injured on litters. That would 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:20.039 be like a device that would be not quite a cart. 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.080 It's kind of hooked up, usually to an animal of 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:27.480 some sort, and it carries you at an incline. The 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.200 other end of it drags on the ground. Often it's 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:32.719 not the most comfortable way to move around, or they 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:36.040 might use stretchers. They would actually receive compensation for each 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:40.840 wounded soldier returned safely, which is interesting when you think 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.360 about working on commission, it's it's probably one of the 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:50.160 most efficient, although soulless ways to ensure that they maximize 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:52.600 their efficiency. Right, yeah, yeah, it was really and this 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.800 was something that was common throughout the ancient to medieval 0:04:55.839 --> 0:05:00.400 era of warfare, was that there would be a reward 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:04.920 given for the return of wounded soldiers because often in 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.760 this era you had at the end of the battle 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:11.279 one side, whichever side was you know, less worse off, 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:13.440 because I don't know that you could call anyone a 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:18.080 winner really, but whichever side quote unquote one the battle 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.360 would end up taking prisoners and then ransoming them off. 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.800 So being able to be removed from the field of 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.440 battle when you're no longer able to fight without being 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:31.320 captured by the enemy was a big deal. So the 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.640 Knights of St John a k a. The Knights of 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:38.720 Malta or the Knights Hospitalitier were charged with the purpose 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.119 to care for the poor, the injured and the sick 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:45.280 back in the eleventh century. They were formed about the 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:47.560 same time as the Knights Templar, because this is all 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.279 during the time of the Crusades. Now, the reason I 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.920 bring up the Knights of St John is because they 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:57.360 were very much involved in the retrieval of wounded soldiers 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:00.680 during battle. Uh. And when the Knights Templar are officially 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:04.799 dissolved in twelve, much of the wealth that they owned, 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:06.760 and there was a lot of it, went to the 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:10.120 Knights of St. John and the order itself divided into 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.200 two branches. One of them became a military order similar 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.840 to the Knights Templar, and the other one continued to 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:17.920 care for the sick and injured. Now one of those 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:22.280 two branches no longer exists, right, I guess which one 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:25.640 the military order. I'm gonna that's That's an excellent guest, 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.120 and you are correct, sir, Thank you. I am a 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.039 bit of an armchair guess. Or. One thing that is 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:32.440 interesting about this before we move on, however, with the 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.480 Knights of St. John, is that I believe and me 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.840 being correct here, but I believe this was one of 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:42.320 the first organizations, at least in the West, that would 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:48.040 care for people regardless of which side. That's that's correct. 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.279 They would. They would retrieve soldiers wounded from any side 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.520 of a battle and treat them. Uh. They're the Maltese 0:06:54.560 --> 0:07:00.480 Cross also eventually evolved into the Red Cross. UH. Also 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:04.720 just random trivia here. One of my distant relatives used 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:10.680 to rule Malta. So what yeah, wait, when are you serious? 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.680 I am absolutely serious? Okay is this um? Could you 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.360 give me some time and space context? Were we talking 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:22.200 like nineteen seventies, early twentieth century night, early thirty I 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:26.160 think thirty seven maybe? Uh? Yeah, his his um. His 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:32.720 governing of Malta was not without political issues, political and 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:34.800 religious issues. That's all I can really say about that 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:38.600 without turning this podcast into something completely okay, But for 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.239 the record, I think people probably want to hear that story. 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:43.920 I know I do, so we can talk about it 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:47.080 off the air. Since it doesn't sound like the controversy 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:51.720 was ambulance related, it wasn't. It wasn't. So the Spanish, now, 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:56.120 moving on from from the eleventh to fourteenth centuries, they 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.400 began to use wagons to transport people in need of 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:03.280 emergency medical care back in fourteen seven, that's during the 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:07.520 whole like we're getting into Ferdinand and Isabella time. They 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.920 also introduced field hospitals, which were called ambulancia's, So that 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.480 was the that referred to the field hospital, not the wagon. Now, 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.200 these field hospitals were tents that had medical and surgical 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:21.320 supplies in them, but they were very rarely used. It 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.600 was hard to actually get soldiers to where they needed 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:28.040 to be. These wagons were not terribly maneuverable. And it 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.640 wouldn't really be until the seventeen hundreds, three years later, 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:34.559 that you would actually see wounded soldiers receiving treatment and 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.240 field hospitals or be carried away by an emergency vehicle 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:40.800 on a regular basis. And that still wasn't perfect, right, 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.280 Like a lot of people died on the way to 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:45.600 or from Oh yeah, no, if you look at if 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:48.640 you look at casualty records, uh, one of the many 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:52.640 reasons why researching this was getting to me today. But 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.360 if you look at casualty records, it's a pretty grim story. 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.319 So you see the number of people who were outright 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:01.480 killed and and you see the number of people who 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:06.920 were retrieved by the folks manning the ambulance as the 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:11.000 wagons um, and you hear about their casualty rates, and 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.840 they were extreme. I mean it was it was not 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.960 good news if you were wounded in battle. Uh. For 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:22.199 a very very long time, the prevailing wisdom was let 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.240 them let them die, right, I mean it really was. Yeah, 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:29.640 unless you're a higher order officer of some sort, right, Yeah, 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.680 it's it's tricky when we think about, um, when we 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.680 think about those attrition rates, especially when we consider a 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.680 very sad fact which I'm sure you ran across as well. Uh, 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:42.600 ladies and gentlemen, the people who were picked for the 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:47.240 medical retrieval teams were not the crack soldiers. They weren't 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.320 the smartest, they weren't the fastest. They were considered to 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:52.360 be the ones who are least likely to actually kill 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:54.160 the enemy. Therefore, let's go ahead and put them in 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:55.959 charge of this wagon for all the soldiers who have 0:09:55.960 --> 0:10:00.920 been wounded, right, they were considered the grade B fighters. Uh, yeah, 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:04.480 it's it was. They were not picked for their ability 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.920 to actually retrieve people. They were picked because they were 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.800 least likely to be useful on the front lines. Um. 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:13.880 And speaking of front lines, that was part of the problem. 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:17.360 Like these wagons were actually usually located the back of 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.640 the army, and they were very heavy, they're very cumbersome, 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:24.040 so it took so much time and effort to maneuver 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.000 them that offense soldiers were dying on the battlefield before 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.560 they'd ever have a chance to be rescued, let alone 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:34.320 incur any problems along the way. So this was a 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:38.280 big issue until a French surgeon named Dominique Jean Larry 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:42.559 designed a lightweight, two wheeled wagon to create a faster 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:47.400 response vehicle. And they were called flying ambulances. And it's 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:51.640 not because they could fly through the air, because they couldn't. Uh. Sorry, 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.120 I didn't mean to cut you off there, Ben, But 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:57.480 they were often stationed with the flying artillery, which also 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.760 could not fly. Oh yeah, sorry, this is just a 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.520 bummer across the board. Well, they're called flying artillery because 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:07.679 they were very light artillery that would be towed by 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.839 horses to their location, so they could they could relocate 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.439 relatively quickly, as opposed to field artillery, which was so 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.320 heavy and cumbersome that you planted it and you didn't 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:19.640 move it, you know, until the battle is over. It's 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:23.440 staying right there. So uh, they would be stationed with 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.679 the flying artillery. So these are both horse cavalry type units. 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:31.160 They normally be cavalry support and that changes fundamentally changes 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:35.600 somebody's odds of living or surviving a war wound. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.880 there is a huge improvement. Some people were suggesting that 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:42.560 it was an improvement as much as that that that 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:46.320 you know, you had a rate of casualty that was 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:49.000 being reduced to ten because of this. Now that was 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:53.559 someone who was writing in support of funding more of 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.920 these kind of wagons. So I doubt that it was 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:00.839 based on any empirical research. More on, more on the 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.600 idea of I think how many lives we could save, 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.000 which still is a noble effort, you know, if you 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:09.400 have to fudge a few numbers. But some hospitals at 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:12.640 this time, such as the Staffordshire General Infirmary, started to 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:16.080 employ their own ambulances. So now we start seeing ambulances 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:20.080 in the civilian life, not just in in warfare. And 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:24.080 these were still wagons pulled by horses. The Staffordshire's wagon 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:28.160 was described as quote a carriage hung upon strings to 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:30.760 be drawn by one or more horses for the conveyance 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:33.680 of the sick or maimed end quote. And by the 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.880 close of the eighteenth century, organized ambulance service was starting 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:41.160 to grow in Europe Europe Europe, yes, the United States 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.040 was not so quick to adopt this. Ambulance service was 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.680 practically absent during the beginning of the American Civil war, 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.559 which if you guys aren't familiar, Uh, a lot of 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.160 our listeners are from outside the US. The American Civil 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.080 War began in eighteen sixty by really eighteen sixty one. 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:59.360 And uh, you don't have any mention of ambulances in 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.680 those early in those early accounts, right yeah. And this 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:07.800 was um one of the bloodiest battles, right that people 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:11.960 remember in the United States. And uh, some of the 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.880 casualties in one of the battles, the Battle bull Run. 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:18.680 We're just saying this for an example, instead of having 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:22.880 an ambulance anywhere near, they walked twenty seven miles after 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.559 they were wounded to get some sort of treatment if 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.320 they survived. That's part of why there was such a 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:33.200 horrific attrition rate in this or casualty rate rather in 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:36.120 this um in this conflict. Oh absolutely yeah. I mean 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:39.240 not only do you have Americans versus Americans, So I mean, 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:42.120 no matter what the casualty is, an American, here's that. 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:47.120 But then you also had just these the you had 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:50.880 no preparedness, you had no ability to to help the people, 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.880 the soldiers who had fallen. And so again it was 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.880 one of those situations where if you fell in battle 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.440 if you were wounded, you know, people off would just 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.160 treat you as if you had died. Um. It was 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.920 only after the appointment of doctor Jonathan Letterman to the 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:09.560 post of Surgeon General of the Army of the Potomac 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:13.400 Medical Department. And this is where we mentioned the post 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:16.120 of surgeon general. The United States had not been invented yet. 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.880 There had there were surgeon generals in the armed forces, 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:22.440 and this is not the surgeon General of the Army 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:27.960 overall as a different, different post. But he uh organized 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:31.000 soldiers into response teams to carry wounded to a site 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.240 where they then could be transported to field hospitals or 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:36.720 even further on into general hospitals. In fact, they had 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:41.840 sort of a a primary response site where the anything 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.520 immediate would be attended to. The soldiers would then be 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:48.640 carried off to a field hospital. At the field hospital, 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:50.560 they would then determine whether or not to treat the 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:55.400 soldier there or to transport him further to the general hospital. 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.200 So it was a much more kind of chain of 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.880 command organized approach. Then William A. Hammond who became surgeon 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.480 General of the U. S. Army in the eighteen sixty two, 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:09.400 So the overall Army standardized ambulance response and also demanded 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:13.600 that hospitals be clean establishments, which was before back the 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:18.040 we knew about bacteria. So his theory was that the 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.080 clean establishments would save more lives, though he didn't have, 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.400 you know, like a scientific reason to point to, because 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.320 we hadn't discovered bacteria yet. But it turns out he 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:31.480 was right and um and so his his approach ended 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:33.760 up saving a lot of lives. He also demanded that 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:37.640 there'd be one ambulance for every one fifty soldiers serving 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.560 in the U. S. Army, and he got it, which 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:42.920 is pretty hardcore if you think about it back then, 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:47.800 because if we're talking about these response teams, right then 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.960 we're talking about a cost benefit analysis of things that 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.960 are pretty expensive and war, which is training time and cavalry. 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:58.960 So yeah, yeah, we're pretty persuasive. You're talking about not 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:03.120 just money, but actual people and animals resources that could 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:07.800 be dedicated to inflicting casualties upon the animally enemy. You'll 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.640 notice that I haven't really talked about the Confederates for 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.240 a reason for that, they just they were not nearly 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:16.800 as as organized as the as the Union was during 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.600 the Civil War when it came to things like treating soldiers. 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:22.640 Uh just watched the documentary film Gone with the Wind. 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:28.440 Uh don't. I mean, you can watch it. It's not 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:32.760 a documentary obviously. So in eighteen sixty four, Congress passes 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:36.480 the Ambulance Core Act, which established a standardized system of 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:40.200 ambulances in the United States. Now, these ambulances had distinct 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:43.240 labels to designate them as such, and then the Geneva 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:46.640 Convention of eighteen sixty four went further and adopted the 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.800 Red Cross as the international symbol for emergency medical responders, 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:54.440 which were to be treated as neutral parties. One thing 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.160 that is just fantastic about this is that this is 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:00.920 um and maybe it's a bit high, probably on my part, 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:04.840 ch Onathan, but this is one of the biggest steps 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:08.560 I think for the human species at large. We actually 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:11.800 took the idea of the Knights of St. John, which 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.240 which wasn't I mean, let's be honest, if it's during 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:17.520 the Crusades, they weren't always saving everybody. Sure, there's a 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:20.680 lot of mothering going on, I'm sure, but the Red 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:28.480 Cross as this international, neutral, benevolent force that somehow it 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:30.880 must have been a great day In eighteen sixty four 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.240 when they all agreed to let that slide. That's amazing 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.000 to me. I just wanted to stop and say, you know, 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:41.640 good for us people. Gosh, yeah, I mean it's it's 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.160 also a little one of those weird things to think 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:48.679 about the idea of we all agree that these people 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.200 are not okay to shoot at, but these other people 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.360 are totally okay to shoot at. This. This is where 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.320 my pacifism comes into right, where I'm just like, I 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:03.320 don't I don't get okay whatever, so um at any rate, 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:06.040 it is it is a great testament that we were 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:08.240 able to come to this agreement and by and large 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.840 people follow it because you know, it's it's it applies 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:15.920 to everyone. It's not something where only that side gets 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.520 to have the benefit of medical treatment. It's it's this 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:24.320 this international UH initiative. So in eighteen sixty five, the 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:27.240 Commercial Hospital in Cincinnati is the first one in the 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:31.160 United States to have a hospital based ambulance service. Bellevue 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.600 Hospital would follow in eighteen sixty nine. Oh fun fact, 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:39.040 this is something car stuff listeners will enjoy. Usually we 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:43.200 do a an inflation calculator that always does but I'll 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.760 at lee you probably recognize this, but I'll fill in 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:49.480 since UH Scott is occupied at the moment. So that 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:53.639 UH ambulance driver in eighteen sixty five there in Cincinnati 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.680 would make about three hundred and sixty dollars a year 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.919 in uh, you know, eighteen sixty five dollars in two 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:05.080 in fourteen, Jonathan, Uh, this is more than you would think, 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.080 but still not that much. It's about five thousand, two 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:14.360 hundred thirty dollars a year a year. Wow, yeah, all year. 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:17.359 I got a cut back on my Xbox consumption. And 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:20.240 that's probably what he was thinking right before he said, 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:22.600 what's the next box? Right right before they called the 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:26.080 second ambulance driver to pick him up, because he was 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:28.080 talking about things that made no sense back in eighteen six. 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:32.880 And now we're finally getting to automotives. Automotives, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:37.840 the we get the first motorized ambulance in Chicago. It 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:41.840 was actually from why I understand, five hundred different business 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:47.080 men over in Chicago, UH donated money so that this 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.199 ambulance could become a reality. And so it was a 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:53.800 motorized ambulance that was donated to Michael Reese Hospital and 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:58.240 its top speed was a blistering sixteen miles per hour, 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:00.520 which still when you think about it, when you have 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:03.040 a reliable sixteen miles per hour and it's a device 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.720 that doesn't get tired. It can run out of juice, 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:10.080 but it doesn't get exhausted, Um, that's a big deal. Uh. 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:13.720 The now, the next year, New York's St. Vincent Hospital 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:18.680 would get its own motorized ambulance. It's horseless carriage ambulance. 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.440 And these were interesting. They were not gasoline powered vehicles. 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:25.680 These were and and then you know this because you've 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:29.480 covered car stuffer so long. They were electric vehicles. The 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:33.679 electric vehicle predates the internal combustion engine. Yes, and that 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:37.239 story is actually so interesting that we're going to have 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:39.960 to table it for another episode because you and I 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:42.240 could go off for twenty minutes about that. But that 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:45.119 is something that people need to know. And I know 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:49.040 it sounds hard to believe, but Jonathan, you are spot on. 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:53.480 The first cars were electric. Yeah. Yeah, you wouldn't think 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:55.720 of it now because whenever you see any sort of 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:58.680 advertisement for an electric vehicle, it's treating it like it's 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:00.439 a it's it's a brand new idea. Yeah, but this 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:03.360 is actually older than the gasoline powered cars where we've 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:06.280 been relying on for a century at any rate. Uh, 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:10.800 these electrical engine ambulances, they had a maximum travel distance 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.880 of between twenty to thirty miles, which is pretty good. Yeah. 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:16.320 You're talking about a city, right, You're not talking about 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:18.760 driving from one city to the next. You're talking about 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:21.919 an ambulance that would go out from a hospital to 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:24.600 a specific location within a city, pick up somebody and 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:28.240 bring it back. So bringing him or her back, and 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:31.479 the doctor in the back of the ambulance, because they 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:34.920 actually would allow a medical practitioner to go along, could 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:39.320 communicate with the driver in the front through a speaking tube. Yeah. 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:41.199 I love the I love of that note you have 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:44.760 about the speaking tube. I wish we still had those cars. 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:47.600 That sounds so much more fun than in intercom. Yeah. Yeah, 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:53.880 where be careful going around the corner. See. Yeah, obviously 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.440 that that brain Stuff episode about old timey voices is 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:00.440 stuck in my head. Keep falling into it. Oh that's 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:03.720 a good one. Um. So here we are. We're approaching 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:06.760 the twenty century. Yeah, we're in the twentieth century. We're 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:09.000 in the twentieth century. That's right, we're early on in it. 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:12.680 Because because New York's got there's nineteen hundred. I guess 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:15.040 if you want to be technical, nineteen o one is 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:19.080 into the twentieth century, you're not gonna be that guy. Okay. Well, 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:23.960 early in the twentieth century, Major Palace of the Canadian 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:28.800 Army introduced the first gasoline powered ambulances. Got it first, 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:33.320 and everyone went my word or they went a yeah, 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:36.760 one of those. Uh. At any rate, it makes sense. 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:39.199 Canada gets pretty cold. And we'll talk a little bit 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:41.720 about fuel types when we get further into the discussion. 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:45.399 So using gasolene made some sense. The first mass produced 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.359 ambulance came from a company that sold herses. Just like 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:51.640 Lee was mentioning, horses, were vehicles that, you know, we're 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:54.280 designed to have a person laid out in the back, 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:57.399 and so a patient who's suffering from some sort of 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:01.160 injury or illness may feel more comfortable down than sitting up. 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:05.160 And so the this company was called James Cunningham's Son 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:09.280 and Company, and there they had a really interesting design. 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:13.520 In fact, they were very h advanced in automobile technology 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:16.760 compared to their There the other cars that were on 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:20.960 the road at the time. Again, early twenteth century and 0:23:20.960 --> 0:23:24.600 you end up getting this, uh, this machine that has 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:26.600