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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: elmatador who wrote (16499)	4/4/2007 10:04:36 PM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 219835

Emat, those trucks are so "third world". Once again the USA leads with cutting edge innovation and sells high value, high margin products to the global marketplace! <g> Specially-Equipped Ambulance Now Available For Obese Patients wave3.com May 17, 2006 10:13 AM By Maureen Kyle (LOUISVILLE) -- Kentucky is ranked sixth in the nation when it comes to the number of adults considered obese. With over 25 percent of the state's population falling into the obese category, EMTs face challenges transporting patients quickly. As WAVE 3's Maureen Kyle reports, a new specially-equipped ambulance will make it easier for local emergency workers to provide care to those patients. "It's definitely a necessity," says Yellow Ambulance Director Belinda Jolly. "The patients are definitely getting heavier and heavier." It's the part of society expanding at an alarming rate. The obese. And the heavier the person, the greater the likelihood they'll develop serious health problems. "The calls are more frequent," Jolly says. "Everyday we're getting more and more calls." And each call proved to be a challenge for EMTs at Yellow Ambulance. Although most stretchers can support patients weighing several hundred pounds, more people may be needed to lift and move the patient. "You may have to have two, three, four, maybe even five units there -- and the fire department -- to lift these patients," Jolly says. In some cases, extremely obese patients were too heavy for the stretchers and too big to safely fit inside standard ambulances. And EMTs could sometimes injure themselves while loading and unloading the patients. "If you have an 800-pound patient," Jolly says, "you're having to have to physically lift that. And this stretcher eliminates that. There's no lifting." The new stretcher and specially equipped ambulance are part of a new bariatric unit reconditioned especially for the obese. It saves manpower, and provides better service for the patients. "Emotionally, it saves on their dignity," Jolly explains. "A lot of times the patients wouldn't fit on the standard size stretcher, and they'd have to use tarps." Jolly says there's also "the embarrassment of calling 911. They don't want the trucks and the cars and everyone standing around." Yellow Ambulance is a private company, and the bariatric unit will be used mainly for doctor's appointments and scheduled visits. But it'll also be on standby for emergency runs, and officials say they'll share it with other ambulance services as needed. The two specially constructed ramps and a steel pulley will also make a tremendous difference in response time, since the remote controlled winch can lift up to 1600 pounds, allowing patients to be loaded and unloaded quickly with just one person. "If you had five or six trucks there, you're talking 45 minutes on the scene," Jolly says. "We can bring this truck in and they'll be gone in 10 minutes." "It could mean life or death, yes," Jolly says. Yellow Ambulance helps serve metro EMS calls and is the only bariatric unit in the area. It will serve parts of southern Indiana and Kentucky.