On the Job Hazards 1
This is kind of scary.
To help accommodate them – and to cut down on the rash of back injuries suffered by paramedics and firefighters trying to lift them – agencies have invested in costly equipment and modified some of their practices.
Portsmouth (Va,) in recent years has replaced its standard gurneys with battery-driven hydraulic “power stretchers,” said Capt. Paul Hoyle, Emergency Medical Services manager. They’re rated to safely hold 700 pounds and lift at the touch of a button, at nearly the cost of a small car: $8,000 apiece.
Virginia Beach rescue squads added electric lifts to fewer than a dozen of their stretchers, said Bruce Nedelka, EMS division chief.
Medical Transport, a private ambulance service, has added eight oversized stretchers to its statewide fleet, four of them in South Hampton Roads, said Elizabeth Beatty, district field supervisor. Her company also operates an oversized ambulance, based in Virginia Beach, that gets requests from across Virginia.
I’m sort of torn here. When I watch the antics of those who want to turn being 10 pounds overweight into a pre-existing condition for health insurance premiums, I scream, “Blaming the victim!”
Nevertheless, 700 pounds plus is slightly more than 10 pounds overweight. Although there can be physiological or genetic causes, they do not seem to explain the explosion of obesity, but in numbers and amount.
All it takes to see that is a walk down the street.
Frankly, I think it has more to do with making Cheetos, Big Macs, and Super-Sizing part of the American Way of Life than with anyone’s personal culpability.
Full Disclosure: I hate Big Macs. I like Cheetos. In fact, I like anything that tastes like cheese, no matter how artificial and no matter how orange it leaves my fingers. I like real cheese even better.
November 2, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I saw this article, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33435869/ns/health-health_care/page/2/from/ET on 10-25. Basically, it’s the same one you’ve quoted.
There is something wrong with people who let themselves get to be so large they can’t get out of bed, but still continue to eat like they do.
The MSNBC article states the ambulance companies are going to have to charge the extra large people more, simply because of the additional equipment & people that are needed. Not to mention the additional risks to the personnel involved.
If the insurance companies charge it, you can look for the additional cost on your raised premiums.
And you’re right, all it takes is a walk down the street to see just how large the majority of the population is. Because of fast food & sedentary lifestyle.