HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Six school districts are partnering with the state's Department of Health and Department of Education to turn school buses into ambulance-like vehicles during public health emergencies.
The program, called AmbuBus, distributes conversion kits purchased with federal grant funds to school districts free of charge, the Clarion Ledger reports. The converted buses would aid in mass patient evacuations during emergencies such as hurricanes.
Kits include hoses and metal tubing to form carriers for stretchers. A full conversion kit would allow one school bus with all the seats removed to carry 18 stretchers, medical equipment and a team of at least eight medical personnel. Schools report that set-up time for a bus is about 45 minutes.