DATE: Friday, October 24, 1997              TAG: 9710240618

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: WINDSOR                           LENGTH:   78 lines

MINI-AMBULANCES HELP MAKE LARGE EVENTS SAFER

If Washington Redskins quarterback Gus Frerotte gets hurt in Sunday's football game against the Baltimore Ravens, ROSE may come to the rescue.

Look for her on TV.

ROSE - Rapid On-scene Special Events vehicle - is a mini-ambulance built in Windsor on a golf cart chassis and equipped to take care of everything from a cut to a full-blown heart attack.

Three of the vehicles this week left Robinson Ambulances Inc. in the small Isle of Wight County town, for the new Jack Kent Cooke Stadium just outside Washington.

They were on hand for the first time Thursday night, when about 80,000 Rolling Stones fans were expected to pack the stadium. They will be used through the football season and, after that, at special events in and around the nation's capital.

ROSE vehicles are designed especially to make their way through crowds and into tight places where regular-size ambulances can't fit.

They were designed by Tommy Robinson, president of the small ambulance company, and Robert W. ``Rusty'' Hundley, executive director of Emergency Physicians of Tidewater and a paramedic for the Nansemond-Suffolk Rescue Squad. Hundley saw a need for an emergency vehicle that could be used for special events.

Robinson Ambulances was started in 1939 by Robinson's father, M.H. Robinson Jr. The $1.3 million company is the only ambulance manufacturer in Virginia. Tommy Robinson and Hundley operate ROSE1 Systems to distribute the mini-ambulances.

ROSE1 was introduced at the 1994 Suffolk Peanut Fest, and it worked well, Hundley said. But, after that, neither Hundley nor Robinson, who specializes in building larger emergency response vehicles, had time to market the smaller version. Still, word spread.

Robinson started to get inquiries about the quick-moving vehicle. Now, in addition to two in Suffolk, clones of ROSE have spread to Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Winchester and the University of Maryland.

That's where officials with the Prince Georges Fire Department - the county that's home to the football stadium - first saw the mini-ambulance, said Battalion Chief Bill Terry.

Terry was able to borrow two from other localities until his arrived. And ROSE came in handy during the first game on Sept. 14.

``There was a 45-year-old female, seated four rows from the top of the stadium, who had a cardiac arrest,'' Terry said. ``With the mini-ambulance, we were able to get to her within two minutes. Time is really important with something like this.''

Because of the quick response, the woman spent only two days in the hospital, Terry said. The ambulance, which carries everything necessary for advanced life support, was capable of running the ramps of the stadium - equivalent to the height of a 12-story building.

It came in handy again when the Redskins played the Dallas Cowboys. Terry said 105 spectators required medical attention during that game.

With compartments built onto the golf cart chassis for medical equipment, the vehicle, which runs on six 6-volt batteries, comes complete with lights and a siren. It's priced from $7,000 to $10,000, Robinson said. The three working the Redskins stadium are glassed in to protect both patient and paramedic from the weather.

ROSE will soon be carrying the name of her Windsor birthplace beyond U.S. shores. One of the mini-ambulances is included in an order bound for Saudi Arabia.

Robinson is getting together an order for 50, van-type ambulances that will accompany Saudis on a religious pilgrimage early next year.

``We're adding the ambulance equipment to Chevrolet vans to go over there,'' Robinson said. ``They will probably be equivalent to what the U.S. was using about 12 years ago, what we'd consider basic life support vehicles.''

The ROSE that goes to Saudi Arabia also will be a simpler version than the ones working at the Redskins stadium. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

SMALL AMBULANCES FOR BIG CROWDS

JOHN H. SHEALLY II

The Virginian-Pilot

Tommy Robinson...

Robinson Ambulances Inc...

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