Story by Jon Waterhouse. Photos by Phil Skinner.
With approximately 60,000 runners and 100,000 spectators, the Peachtree Road Race is one of the biggest events on Atlanta’s calendar. But when a participant needs emergency medical attention, the crowds present a significant obstacle.
“Almost every year we have a cardiac arrest on the course,” says Jason Powell, team captain and coordinator of Grady Health’s EMS Bike Team. “Traditionally, an ambulance isn’t going to be able to get on the course due to the sheer amount of people who are there. In every circumstance, our bike team has always gotten there first and applied a defibrillator.”
Medic Asher Morris responded to a cardiac arrest at Piedmont Road and 10th Street during the 2010 race. “I was actually the second bike responder there,” Asher says. “When I arrived, the runner was still in cardiac arrest. We did compressions and airway management. The first person on the scene had defibrillated the patient with an AED with no positive response. As we continued with the compressions, we shocked him again. We were actually able to get a pulse back and the patient was able to talk before he was transported to the hospital.”
Asher and his fellow bike team members have saddlebags full of these stories. From smaller street festivals and community 5K runs to more sprawling events, including the Publix Marathon and the Atlanta Pride Festival, the Grady EMS Bike Team remains on call to speed into action.
Powell found an interest in bicycling and public safety at a relatively early age. “I got into public safety cycling while I was involved in a program through the Boy Scouts of America,” he says. “EMS bike teams were relatively new, and I got into it that way. It made me want to pursue a career in emergency medical services.”
Grady’s team dates back to 2003 when the Atlanta Track Club, its major financial supporter, donated funds to pay for member training, equipment and other startup needs. The Grady EMS Bike Team made its debut — and saved a life — at the Peachtree Road Race that July 4. “That’s worth its weight in gold, and it helped prove there’s a need,” Powell says.
Today, a total of 24 Grady paramedics and EMTs are assigned to the team. These handpicked participants are required to have EMT or paramedic certification. The ideal team medic should have at least two years of advanced life support experience in a 911 setting and one year of experience at Grady Health. And each member must complete training based on International Police/EMS Mountain Bike Association and Georgia bicycle traffic laws.
The Grady EMS Bike Team is hired to participate in an average of 25 events each year. Typically, a smaller venue requires four cyclists split into teams of two. Larger events call for medics to be individually posted throughout as a solo response unit for maximum coverage.
On the day of an event, team participants gather at the Grady EMS headquarters on Memorial Drive in Atlanta. For an event like the Peachtree Road Race, this could mean preparing as early as 4:30 a.m. The team keeps 14 of its bikes packed and ready to go at any given time.
Each bike has two saddlebags — one on each side — and a bag on the bike’s rear rack. The contents include a defibrillator; oxygen; first aid and trauma supplies; IVs and fluids; first-line medications and more.
“Riding a bike is one thing,” says team medic Gail Stallings. “Riding a bike that has 50 pounds of gear through a crowd is a whole different ballgame. When you join the team, there’s about a week and a half of training just learning how to maneuver the bikes.”
Once the bikes are fully packed, and the medics have ensured that the chains, brakes and gears are in working order, they depart. Depending on the distance and time frame, the team may bike directly to the location. Otherwise, they pack the bikes into a van and head out.
The team usually deploys to an event for eight to 12 hours. When they’re not making calls, they patrol the venue.
“This allows us to go out and mingle in the community and answer questions,” Powell says. “It’s more of a community service position instead of being confined in an ambulance and running calls. On the bike team, we’re able to go out there and see people in real time. It’s more personable.”
Stallings appreciates the fresh air and direct contact afforded by the bicycles. “I love working on the ambulance and have always enjoyed it,” she says. “But it’s really fun to have a day when you go out and ride a bike, and you still have patient contact. So, it’s a lot of what I do on the ambulance, but it’s a little bit different, and you never have a bad day on a bike.”
The team’s mobility is most important. “All in all in EMS, out-of-hospital cardiac survival rates are very low,” Stallings says. “With the team, we have a [much better] success rate, because we can get to patients quickly.”
Team members have even had encounters with people they’ve saved. One weekend, when Powell rode his mountain bike through Piedmont Park, he found himself stopped by a stranger. The man explained that a couple of years earlier, he had gone into cardiac arrest while participating in the Peachtree Road Race, and the Grady EMS Bike Team saved his life.
“Then he told me he was going to run the Peachtree again,” Powell says. “It was really touching from both an emotional and professional standpoint.”
