Mobile Medical
Five Tasks to Keep Your Bloodmobile in Tip Top Shape
June 3, 2021
A bloodmobile allows your medical personnel to accept more blood donations than possible in a brick-and-mortar location. These mobile medical vehicles allow you to easily visit numerous locations in a week, while also ensuring the utmost convenience for donors.
With important work to be done, your bloodmobile must remain in tip-top shape. After all, a bloodmobile is a large investment and needs to offer your community years of service.
To keep your bloodmobile running smoothly and to ensure the safety of those who use it, implement the following five tasks that will help keep the vehicle in quality condition.
1. Create a Driver Checklist
Every single time that the key is placed in the ignition of your bloodmobile, the driver operating the vehicle should go over a pre-trip checklist. By creating a checklist for your driver, you can ensure that any critical issues with the vehicle are caught early on and that safety is always top of mind.
A driver checklist should include the following important items:
- Check to see that all vehicle lights are operating properly, including running lights, turn signals, brake lights, and headlights.
- Look over the vehicle’s tires, checking to ensure that no tires are flat and that no tires are showing signs of cracking.
- Test the windshield wipers to ensure they are operating properly.
- Make sure that all equipment is stowed away and there are no loose objects that could become dangerous projectiles when the vehicle is in motion.
In addition to creating a checklist of items for your driver, make sure you have clear policies on what should be done if an issue is caught.
For example, if your driver takes down a note on their pre-trip checklist that the tires are starting to lose their tread, what should the follow-up task be? Who should be notified so that tire services can be scheduled?
Having a clear policy around vehicle inspection and maintenance can help prevent major issues from ever occurring.
Additionally, by implementing a pre-trip inspection, you can prevent many common roadside hazards, keeping your entire team safer.
2. Keep the Interior Space Clean
In many cases, a bloodmobile will be an extremely busy workspace. Donors will be funneled in and out of the vehicle throughout the day and medical personnel will be hard at work. Staff members might come and go as shifts begin and end.
After a long day, it is easy for the interior space of your bloodmobile to become cluttered and dirty. Not only can an untidy workspace lead to injuries or accidents on the job, but it can also slowly damage the interior of the bloodmobile over time.
Make sure that every single day, the interior is cleaned up. This should involve putting away equipment, stowing unused supplies in storage spaces, and wiping down all surfaces with disinfectant.
Additionally, floors should be swept and cleaned and trash should be disposed of. This will help to protect the surfaces in your bloodmobile, as well as contribute to a hygienic environment.
Similar to the above driver checklist, you might consider implementing a daily cleaning checklist to have personnel sign off on after each shift. This will help ensure that everyone is held accountable for maintaining the condition of the vehicle.
3. Schedule a Monthly Deep Clean
Beyond just daily cleaning, keeping your bloodmobile in working condition should include a monthly deep clean.
Every single month, pull equipment, supplies, and all removable items out of the vehicle. With the vehicle empty, deep clean all storage spaces, as well as under chairs and tables. Wipe down every surface and clean out the bloodmobile’s cab.
4. Stay on Top of Maintenance
Beyond just keeping the interior of your bloodmobile in good condition, you will also want to focus on keeping the mechanics of the vehicle in premium shape.
To keep your bloodmobile functioning for years to come, make sure that you stay on top of routine vehicle maintenance. Never neglect any of the following important ongoing services:
- Oil changes
- Transmission fluid flushes
- Tune-ups
- Tire rotation / replacement
- Brake inspections and repairs
If you aren’t sure about the specific maintenance requirements for your bloodmobile, talk to the team who customized the build. They will be able to help you determine the right schedule for maintenance services based on the chassis your bloodmobile was designed on. This is important as not all vehicles require maintenance tasks to occur on the same schedule.
5. Never Ignore Signs of Trouble
One of the worst things you can do for the longevity of your bloodmobile is to ignore early signs of trouble. Whether it is a squeaking brake, a cracking sidewall on your tire, or a check engine light that is on, the moment you spot an issue, schedule services.
Most vehicle issues, when tackled early on, are less expensive to repair. Additionally, when you tackle repairs right away, you will reduce vehicle downtime. Nothing is worse than a roadside breakdown, which can often be prevented by scheduling vehicle services the moment you are aware of an issue.
Talk to Summit Bodyworks about a New Bloodmobile Today
If you are ready to add a new bloodmobile to your mobile medical fleet, talk to our team at Summit Bodyworks. We have over 30 years of experience building specialty vehicles and have established ourselves as the nations’ leading specialty vehicle and truck body manufacturer and upfitter.
Interested in learning more about the work we have done? Take a look at one of our recent bloodmobile builds. Additionally, feel free to reach out with any questions you might have about customizing a bloodmobile. We will be happy to walk you through the options available for your team.
Not only can we assist you in building a custom bloodmobile, but we can also help you understand your vehicle’s specific maintenance requirements. Our goal is to help you keep your bloodmobile in tip-top shape for years to come. Reach out today to learn more.
