They can be seen at Caribana or the Ex, pedaling through your local park, or rushing along the city's roads and bike lanes, but are easily mistaken for police. Since 1996, Toronto's Emergency Medical Services bicycle paramedics have been pedal-powering themselves to emergencies as part of the Toronto EMS Mountain Bike Program.
Mostly used during special events, bicycle paramedics allow for rapid response times in congested areas. These two-wheeled ambulances are capable of handling not only potholes but the curbs and stairs that their four-wheeled counterparts cannot.
Bike paramedics are also able to provide almost all of the services of a more traditional ambulance, aside from transporting patients. Their back panniers hold an airway kit, oxygen, suction, glucometry, a symptom relief kit with five medications, a first aid kit and a semi-automatic external defibrillator.
Carrying all that gear — which weighs from 70 to 80 pounds — is no easy task, say paramedics Arnon Goldenberg and Ken Mooney. They and their colleagues need to be in top shape, but personal fitness is not the only challenge facing bicycle paramedics. Goldenberg says that, in places like the bar district, pedestrians can pose as much of a risk to him and his colleagues as cars do — particularly if there are a lot of them, and doubly so if they’re inebriated.
And even with mandatory CANBIKE training, the hazards of cycling on the city's streets are real for these paramedics. Ask Mooney, who knows the dangers of downtown cycling first hand; he was hit by a taxi while on the job. He says that all the congestion and visual distractions of the downtown areas where he works raises the risk level. Drivers just don’t always see them — despite their police-like uniforms.
Besides raising awareness to the safety challenges of cyclists, bicycle paramedics' ability to move quickly through congested areas to emergencies often means that more ambulances are available for situations requiring patient transportation. Although the number of bicycle paramedics has recently gone down from 30 to 20, Mooney and Goldenberg expect to see more hiring in the near future.
"There's a lot of interest," says Goldenberg — despite an intensive selection process, which includes a physical, written and scenario component, and an interview. "There's going to be more people that want it than positions available."