MedStar says their bicycle response team working in the West 7th Street entertainment district has treated nearly 500 people since being deployed in September 2018.
The Fort Worth Police Department and MedStar have been partnering for four years to provide medical treatment to people visiting the district on Friday and Saturday nights.
MedStar said the number of people visiting the area on weekends makes it difficult for first responders and emergency medical resources to answer medical calls with ambulances, so they deployed BERT -- the Bicycle Emergency Response Team -- to respond to 911 calls or police officers from 10 p.m. Friday through 3 a.m. Saturday and from 10 p.m. Saturday until 3 a.m. Sunday.
Since its initiation in 2018, BERT medics have treated 466 patients, 61% of those patients being treated on the scene without the need for an ambulance or fire truck to be dispatched into the district.
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MedStar said treating those patients with BERT allowed the ambulances to remain available to respond to other community responses.
