Southside Fire gets ambulance for very obese patients

Southside Fire and EMS is adding a special-order ambulance meant for very obese patients to its fleet of emergency vehicles.

So far it's getting great business.

Southside is using the bariatric ambulance for anyone larger than 400 pounds. It has been used more than once a day for larger patients since it was delivered in late June. The largest patient transported thus far weighed 730 pounds.

It's also being used to transport normal-weight patients, but special features, including a cot that can hold a 1,600-pound patient, are easing transport problems with larger patients.

"Before, we would have to get six to eight men to lift a stretcher and sometimes our EMTs would get hurt," said Assistant Chief Tim Genest. "Logistically it was difficult, and there were issues for the patient."

Need for specialized gear follows trend

Twenty-five years ago, ambulance cots could carry patients who weighed up to 400 pounds.

"We rarely had anyone who was bigger than that," Genest said. "Now, it's not uncommon."

Anne Byerly, nurse manager in the Emergency Department at Candler Hospital, has worked in medicine for 30 years. Obese patients aren't so unusual anymore.

"You can see the change," Byerly said. National statistics "show a 50 percent increase in size since 1991. We're seeing children now that are hypertensive with diabetes."

Although the new ambulance solves the challenge of getting the patient from the front door to the hospital, it doesn't help EMTs and hospital staff with loading and unloading the patient. Once off the ambulance, doctors and nurses deal with many of the same problems.

"The problem is still how do you get from the cot to one of our beds," Byerly said.

Candler Hospital recently purchased rolls of special plastic material that can be placed under a patient that helps slide him or her from one cot to another.

"Some hospitals have widened doorways and purchased special beds and installed ceiling-mounted lifts," Byerly said.

Candler hasn't found a need for such drastic improvements, she said, but has purchased reinforced wheelchairs, larger waiting room seats and bigger blood pressure cuffs.

All about the patient

Accommodating the patients is meant to help reduce further injury and encourage treatment among a segment that often avoids medical settings.

"These patients are sometimes embarrassed to get treatment and they wait," Byerly said. "They say the nurse wasn't sensitive or made comments. We have to be very much aware of that."

The ambulance and its larger cot is meant to be more comfortable for both the EMTs and the patient.

In traditional ambulances, on top of standard cots, large patients often felt unstable because the cots weren't tested for those extreme weights.

Once inside, patients with a large girth that hangs over the edge might prevent the cot from securely connecting to a wall mount.

The new vehicle comes with a cot that fastens to the floor rather than at the sides.

Bigger market

The features were built specifically for Southside by Peach State Ambulance. It was the first bariatric ambulance built by the company, and it could be the only vehicle of its type in the state outside Atlanta.

"Three years ago we weren't getting any calls for ambulances like these," said Richard Manning, sales manager for Peach State. "Now we get a few calls every couple weeks. It really makes more sense for smaller agencies because bigger departments have unlimited manpower to direct" to obese patients.

The special vehicle cost $120,000, about $35,000 more than a conventional ambulance.

"When you think about how much it might cost if you have an employee with an injured back away from work, it might be a cost savings," Genest said. "But on top of that, there's the concern about patient comfort and safety."