Mr Morisset: “Thank you for the opportunity to express our satisfaction with the Garaventa Evacu-Trac (Carry Down Chair).”


Michael Morisset
Garaventa Accessibility
Surrey B.C.
Canada V3W 7B3

For many years, the Anne Arundel County School system has handled emergency evacuation for physically challenged students by implementing an Area of Refuge Plan which the Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinating Team (ADACT) helped coordinate. The school staff, parents, administrators or the committee members, never preferred this plan.

Finally, we discovered that the local Community College had Evacu-Tracs. We had one or two schools using other types of evacuation chairs, but they required the responders to support the entire weight of the handicapped student, and in on case that student weighed 300 pounds.

We were concerned about injury to staff and students in a weight bearing situation that these rescue chairs presented.

Once we saw how the Evacu-Trac operated, we made the decision to begin fazing them in at two story schools that had wheelchair bound students. This past summer, we finished outfitting all secondary, two level schools wirh Evacu-Tracs, whether there were physically challenged students attending or not. Since secondary schools house the majority of our wheelchair bound population, elementary schools are done on an as needed basis. Once the Evacu-Trac is installed, it is not removed, even if the student(s) has moved on and there is no longer a need.

Although the local Fire Marshall currently does not accept Evacu-Tracs in lieu of an area of refuge, we use Evadu-Tracs. We have a general written plan for the use of the Evacu-Trac and an individual written emergency plan for all physically challenged students. Trainers go to the schools twice per school year and train responders.

Two responders are required for each wheelchair bound student. Fortunately, most of the use of the Evacu-Tracs has been for false alarms. Nurses frequently call to report how wonderfully the Evacu-Trac worked in these instances.

The school system has purchased about 80 Evacu-Tracs, and will likely purchase a few more as needed.

We could not be more pleased with the devices and their quick and easy use.

We feel that it was an investment in the safety of our physically challenged students.

Especially in this day and age, we felt it to be an easy decision. After 9/11, the committee pondered how many more wheelchair bound people would have been saved if there had been Evacu-Tracs in the stairways. Our understanding is that they were waiting in the Area of Refuge, for a rescue that never came.
 
Thank you for the opportunity to express our satisfaction with the Garaventa Evacu-Trac (Carry Down Chair).