Dispensary Corner 22 Aug 11
August 22, 2011
EMERGENCY services in Austria
say they will be able to get to ill
patients in traffic jams and
shopping centres much faster
after announcing the purchase of
a fleet of Segway scooters.
The space-age transportation -
more often seen in movies or
being used by tour operators - will
be equipped with sirens and
flashing lights.
Officials said the Segways had
significantly outperformed
ambulances and paramedic
motorbikes in trials.
“They go places that
conventional vehicles could never
reach,” said a spokesman.
He said that although the
Segways weren’t able to carry
patients, they could be fitted with
most items needed for first aid
operations, including a heart
defibrillator.
The Segway trial had been
particularly effective during
recent marathons in Vienna and
Linz, where crowds of runners and
spectators blocked access to
larger vehicles.
A US man is standing up for the
rights of elderly people to cover
themselves, suing the New York
Department of Parks and
Recreation for making him wear a
pair of skimpy speedos.
61-year-old Roy Lester says he’s
been working as a lifeguard at the
state’s Jones Beach for more than
40 years, but lost his weekend job
after the imposition of “new
swimsuit rules” which mandate
the iconic Aussie cossie.
“People don’t want to see old
people in Speedos and that’s
what it comes down to, and I
agree with them,” he said,
refusing to don the skimpy
swimwear to undertake an annual
“rehire test” requiring guards to
swim 100m in 75 seconds.
Lester claims the new policy is
part of a concerted push for
lifeguards to look “young and
attractive,” aiming to force out
older employees.
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