New ambulance to serve grossly obese Calgarians

[K9kazoo]

New ambulance to serve grossly obese Calgarians

Calgary Herald

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Calgary EMS is set to unveil the first ambulance in Canada capable of carrying patients weighing up to 1,000 pounds.

The ambulance, which will be manned by a special Bariatric Response Team, is a direct response to an increasingly obese population, say EMS officials.

"Increasing waistlines are increasing the potential for injuries to paramedics who are already dealing with the everyday dangers that come with their job," said the official EMS release.

submit@theherald.canwest.com

[K9kazoo]

Ambulance designed to serve obese

By DOUG MCINTYRE, SUN MEDIA

Calgary EMS will today fire up the engine on the first ambulance in Canada specially designed to transport obese patients.

The ambulance, which will be staffed by the newly formed Bariatric Response Team, is specifically altered to enable paramedics to treat and transport patients weighing up to 1,000 lb.

EMS officials say the addition of the new care unit is necessary given the current obesity epidemic and will minimize the risk of injury to paramedics while transporting obese patients.

[FireMedic65]

FINALLY, an ambulance that can transport me around!

lol.. jk

fatass ambulances are nice... but they tend to be more trouble. a local squad here has one... and they get called in a lot for mutual aid. but other wise, i think they are great. sure beats transporting them on the back of a flatbed tow truck (yes... i have done it before)

[kevkei]

Calgary EMS will today fire up the engine on the first ambulance in Canada specially designed to transport obese patients.

Oh really? I guess they neglected the fact that we have had ours for a while now?

[K9kazoo]

Calgary EMS responds to a big problem

DAWN WALTON

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

June 21, 2007 at 5:09 AM EDT

CALGARY — In an effort to reduce both back-breaking work for paramedics and the humiliation of patients, a new ambulance specifically designed to accommodate people who weigh up to 1,000 pounds is about to hit the road in Calgary.

The city's new "bariatric response team" to be announced today includes specially trained paramedics, an air-bag system to help move obese patients onto stretchers larger than standard size and a hydraulic lift system to slide patients into the ambulance.

Calgary's Emergency Medical Services calls it a Canadian first. David Lau, president of Obesity Canada, says it's a much-needed sign of the times.

"This is a good step forward. I do have a number of patients who are 500 pounds and up and they normally cannot be transferred anywhere," said Dr. Lau, an endocrinologist who is also a professor of medicine at the University of Calgary. "It may sound trivial and yet it's not. It's a big [problem], to pardon the pun."

Both experts and statistics have been pointing to a growing obesity epidemic in Canada and other developed countries.

A study last year in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that the number of morbidly obese people in Canada has quadrupled since 1985, while the number of obese Canadians has doubled and those deemed to be overweight has increased 20 per cent.

According to Statistics Canada, close to 39 per cent of adult Canadians were of normal weight in 2005. Almost 35 per cent of adults were overweight and more than 24 per cent were considered obese. More than 14 million adults in this country were either overweight or obese.

Obesity comes with a social stigma and a host of problems including diabetes, heart disease and, not surprisingly, trips to the hospital.

"With an increasing size of our population, there's increased danger to paramedics with lifting and moving these patients," said Paul Lapointe, the public education officer with EMS in Calgary.

But it has also been difficult for heavy patients.

"It's been an uncomfortable ride on the stretcher that we have and even getting them onto that stretcher is tough," Mr. Lapointe said.

Calgary's new ambulance has been in the works for about a year. The remote lift system automatically raises the patients on a stretcher (which has been widened 15 centimetres, to 60 cm) and into the ambulance. The system was designed by a California company and costs about $30,000.

According to Calgary EMS, this is the most advanced system for treating larger patients in the country, if not the continent.

"In some places, some patients have been put on a flatbed truck," Mr. Lapointe said. "It's a pretty hard way for them to keep their dignity."

In 1998, dramatic photos were snapped of rescue workers in Massachusetts using rock-climbing equipment, an aerial platform and a moving van to transport a man weighing 855 pounds (388 kilograms) to hospital.

In March, Florida news media reported a three-hour ordeal involving 11 paramedics, the use of plywood, two stretchers and removal of a window to get a 500-pound man from his home to the hospital.

As a result of seeing more and more heavy patients, paramedics have improvised to cope with the issue.

In 2005, the paramedic service in Ottawa refitted an ambulance to include a standard stretcher that is 60 cm wide and can carry 298 pounds (135 kilograms) to one that is 91 cm across and holds up to 644 pounds (292 kilograms). It also added electronic winch apparatus to hoist patients in the ambulance.

Montreal paramedics have also added a winch and ramp system to their ambulances.

"Some of my heavier patients are in the neighbourhood of 700 and 800 pounds," Dr. Lau said. "By the time you hit 1,000 pounds you may even have trouble getting the person out of the house because the doors are just not wide enough."

Even once obese patients get to medical centres, providing treatment for them poses another set of challenges. CT scanners and magnetic resonance imaging machines cannot accommodate people who weigh more than 350 pounds (159 kilograms).

"You can tell things have come a long away," Dr. Lau said. "It's important to let people know that overweight people are no longer second-class citizens and we have to accommodate to their needs."

*****

Canadians weigh in

According to Statistics Canada, nearly a quarter of Canadians qualify as obese, based on body mass index (BMI). The figures below are from Statscan's 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey. They include Canadians 18 years and over, but do not include pregnant women. They also exclude people less than three feet tall and greater than six feet 11 inches tall.

Total population measured 24.2 million

Underweight (BMI under 18.5) 0.42 million

Normal weight (BMI 18.5 to 24.99) 9.42 million

Overweight (BMI 25.0 to 29.99) 8.46 million

Obese (BMI 30.0 or higher) 5.90 million

Obese subdivided into:

Class 1 (BMI 30.0 to 34.99; high health risk) 4.21 million

Class 2 (BMI 35.0 to 39.99; very high health risk) 1.17 million

Class 3 (BMI 40.0 or higher; extremely high health risk) 0.52 million

To calculate your BMI

Divide your body weight (in kilograms) by your height (in metres) squared. For example, a person about six feet tall (about 1.8 metres) weighing 200 pounds (about 90 kilograms) would have a BMI of (90/3.24) or 27.78.

Source: Statistics Canada

[K9kazoo]

Link to video:

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/RTGAMArticle.../calgary.ctv.ca

Unsure how long the link will remain active.

Looks like it's a Demers...

On a side note Calgary purchased 51 of the new Demers MX-170s.

B.

[courageheartx]

[WendyT]

That's really sad that a situation has gotten out of hand, that we've become what we are. I saw something on tv that's in Jersey, a hosptial that deals with people who are 5 times heavier than me. One guy who says, yep he's on the road to recovery and ends up back to square 1, watching the medics taking him from his house on a large lfit to that hospital.

I cannot believe they can eat so much food like that.

How much does an average cot weigh before a pt is put on it? and is it heavier without a pt.

[Scaramedic]

Cool you are now ready.

We will be shipping you Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnel overnight mail.

Peace,

Marty

[courageheartx]

that in itself would be such a different chapter. like how to deal with "transexual patients"