Ambulance

An ambulance is a a medically equipped vehicle designed for the transportation of the sick or injured. 

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In 1191 a pioneering ambulance service was undertaken by the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, a charitable organization originally set up to care for sick pilgrims to the Holy Land. The Hospitallers, who had received instruction in first-aid treatment from Greek and Arab doctors, organized horse-drawn carts to transport men wounded in battle during the Third Crusade back into their own lines for treatment instead of being left to die. It was also common practice for small rewards to be paid to soldiers who carry the wounded bodies of other soldiers in for medical treatment.

During the Italian campaign in the late 1700s the French general Napoleon’s private surgeon, Baron Dominique Larrey developed an ambulance system whereby wounded soldiers on the battlefield could quickly receive help by means of trained attendants giving first-aid with medical equipment moved out from the field hospitals. If the injury was serious stretcher - bearers took them immediately from the battlefield to the field hospitals by stretcher, hand-carts and wagons.

The word “ambulance” is derived from the French word “ambulant” meaning it is "moving." It refers back to the first temporary field hospitals during the Napoleonic Wars, which moved with the army and in their French description were known as hôpital ambulant.

Ambulance services in America became common after the Civil War, and funeral home directors were some of the first to get in on the act. In the early days, the lifesaving vehicles were powered by horses and featured sparse equipment—usually just a stretcher, blanket, and some whiskey to numb the pain.

In 1884, before there were ambulances for people in San Francisco, there was an ambulance for horses. It came to the aid of six in its first month of service. 

The first civilian ambulance service was set up in 1892 in Brisbane, Australia. After witnessing an accident at the Brisbane Exhibition, Seymour Warrian founded the City Ambulance Transport Brigade.

The first motorized ambulance service was set up in central London in 1905 using four vehicles. 

The first U.S. motorized ambulance unit operated in Mexico in 1916 during the American punitive expedition against the Mexican revolutionary general Pancho Villa.

McDonald's founder Ray Croc and Walt Disney both lied about their age to serve in World War I and served in the same Red Cross ambulance company.

In the US, funeral directors were involved in the ambulance business through the early 1970s when purpose built ambulances became available. In most towns, if you needed to be taken to the hospital, you called the funeral home, and they’d use their hearse to transport you to the hospital.

Since the signing of the Geneva Convention in 1864, ambulance units and the wounded in their care have been considered neutrals on the field of battle. 

The French philosophy on emergency medical care is to provide a higher level of care at the scene of the incident, and so every ambulance is staffed with a doctor who arrives on site.

Source Ripley's