Transporting super-morbidly obese patients is a challenge for paramedics and EMTs.
Fox25 -
Boston's ambulance service has modified one of its vehicles so it can handle the increasing number of obese patients that require transportation.
Officials say Boston Emergency Medical Services has to take anywhere from two to four patients weighing at least 450 pounds to area hospitals per week.
Capt. Jose Archila tells The Boston Globe he's seen patients as much as 700 pounds.
Experts say obese patients can put the health of paramedics in danger, who can injure their backs and necks lifting and moving the overweight.
The modified Boston ambulance that hits the streets later this month includes a hydraulic lift and a stretcher that can bear loads of up to 800 pounds. It cost about $12,000 to retrofit the vehicle.
My ex EMT husband just said, "That's why you don't lift people by yourselves, you get hurt." But, then again, I'm not sure he ever had a 700 lb. patient when HE was an active EMT, when he, himself was 350 lbs. Just saying. That is to say, don't listen to my husband who is not in the field. He's now a puny 185 lbs, and probably would wither if challenged by a super morbidly obese patient.
My concern isn't so much getting your patient on the ambulance, as it is OUT of some of the Boston-area apartments. Steep and curved stairways, and houses with lots of stairs, triple-deckers. Hi there back injury and disability payments for life.
As a former 320 pound woman, one of my concerns was "What if someone needed to lift ME in an emergency?"
Yes, WE DO THINK ABOUT IT.
I think we think about it regardless of size, just a little overweight or a lot overweight. I remember the embarrassment of being log-rolled in the emergency room for a spinal tap, being lifted in the birthing unit during labor and deliveries, it's awful, we are totally aware of what people say, "We're gonna need another set of hands, here!" Now, to imagine, "We're gonna need that lift."
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