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Practice out of conviction In the area of pre-hospital care, a major step was ta- ken at the “Expo Hospital” medical trade fair. WAS and Weinmann Emergency Medical Technology exhibited together here in August 2019 - just a few months after WAS RMH had provided a WAS 500 ambulance for demo de- monstrations throughout Chile. “From our work in the firefighting sector, we knew that the best way for high-quality technology to gain a foothold is to put it into practice. It was an important step to show a demo ambulance that di- rectly demonstrates the benefits of new quality standards”, recalls Mauricio Hartwig of this success. In the meantime, the first six WAS 500 ambulances have been purchased for use in the most import- ant hospitals in the Maule region (southern Chile, 350 kilometres from Santiago) in the cities of Curicó, Talca, Linares, Constitución, Cauquenes and Parral, and the ambulances have been in use there since the beginning of January 2024. In addition to raising the quality and safety stan- dards for the SAMU (Service d‘Aide Médicale Urgente, emergency rescue service organisa- tion based on the French model), another chal- lenge for the company lies in logistics. Medical technology is almost exclusively imported in Chile; Germany is the second most important supplier after the USA. Long distances to the manufacturing countries and therefore commu- nication with a wide variety of people from diffe- rent backgrounds are part of RMH’s daily business. Mauricio Hartwig and his team are accordingly expe- rienced in coordinating details and importing the right solutions for the Chilean emergency services together with the manufacturers. A WAS ambulance for Chile There are also very specific criteria for the WAS ambulance, which were defined in advance in collaboration with our col- leagues Andreas Plöger and Dirk Henke. These include off- road capability and climatic adaptability as well as robust communication systems, because Chile is a very diverse country in terms of geography, climate and infrastructure. With an area of approx. 756,700 km², it is more than twice the size of Germany, but comparatively sparsely populated. The landscape consists of coastal areas, valleys used for agricul- ture and mountainous regions. The region is exposed to natu- ral hazards such as earthquakes and tsunamis on the coast and forest fires in summer. While the urban areas are well de- veloped, the mountainous regions in particular are characteri- sed by gravel roads and limited network coverage. The weat- her varies from hot, dry summers to cold, rainy winters. In addition, the ambulances should be particularly easy to main- tain and the technical requirements should be able to be met on site. In line with the company’s philosophy, the right after- sales service is of course also part of the package. RMH of- fers this by providing a service vehicle and its own workshop as well as in cooperation with authorised workshops for the base vehicles. Ambitious goals In just ten years, RMH has established itself as a permanent fixture in the Chilean firefighting and healthcare sector thanks to its commitment and creative drive. And if Mauricio Hartwig has his way, there is still a lot to do: “We have ambitious plans for the future. These include equipping the SAMU throughout Chile in areas as diverse as the desert in the north and the fjords in the south or the large island of Chiloe. To this end, we are also working with the Ministry of Health to plan a new stan- dard of ambulance for Chile. At the same time, we are suppor- ting various fire brigades in finding solutions with WAS 300 van ambulances and units for command posts and communica- tion with WAS 900 disaster relief vehicles.” We look forward to continuing to accompany Mauricio Hartwig and his team on this journey.