# Power Stretchers - Who's not using em?



## Iambatman (Jan 29, 2020)

does your service use power stretchers?  Who and where areya located?  

Just trying to take an informal poll


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## Jim37F (Jan 29, 2020)

Right before I left McCormick Ambulance in LA they were switching over, goal of 100% power load and power stretchers (Strykers).

I think everyone had the power gurneys, and all the new ambulances had the load system, but still a few older rigs without, but from what I've seen on Facebook, they've been trying to have a new rig for every unit.

Here in Honolulu, EMS still has manual gurneys, but they're the Fernos with collapsible legs so you just kinda push them straight into the unit.

Local AMR op has power Strykers. Idk if they're at 100% yet, but only a few units have the load system as well (they like the Sprinter vans here).

Fed Fire has 100% Stryker power load and power gurneys though.


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## Tigger (Jan 29, 2020)

Can't think of any paid services around here that don't have them. Our backup to the backup has a manual cot but even that's going away in the next month.


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## Jn1232th (Jan 29, 2020)

Company I’m at still has manual but believe switching to power soon hopefully haha so much easier but will say the manual is much lighter loading


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## NomadicMedic (Jan 29, 2020)

All power. No manual litters left.


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## gotbeerz001 (Jan 29, 2020)

NomadicMedic said:


> All power. No manual litters left.


Auto loaders in our County now.


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## DrParasite (Jan 30, 2020)

Iambatman said:


> does your service use power stretchers?  Who and where areya located?


Just for clarification: are you talking about power stretchers, or self loading power stretchers?

in my current county of residence in NC, they all have power stretchers.  the two non-profits have self loading systems, while the county has a mix of self-loading and not.

When I was up in Jersey (and this is maybe 5 years ago), the majority of hospital based 911 services didn't have power stretchers, but that might have changed since i left.


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## Never2Old (Jan 30, 2020)

Manual Strykers in all our rigs ... no money for Power Assist or Load.


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## Iambatman (Jan 30, 2020)

DrParasite said:


> Just for clarification: are you talking about power stretchers, or self loading power stretchers?
> 
> in my current county of residence in NC, they all have power stretchers.  the two non-profits have self loading systems, while the county has a mix of self-loading and not.
> 
> When I was up in Jersey (and this is maybe 5 years ago), the majority of hospital based 911 services didn't have power stretchers, but that might have changed since i left.



Either or; however i have noticed lots of places have the entire loading system


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## johnrsemt (Feb 5, 2020)

All manual still at FT federal job.
PT job has power cots, but manual loading.


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## PotatoMedic (Feb 5, 2020)

My personal opinion.  No power gurney without power loader.


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## Jim37F (Feb 5, 2020)

PotatoMedic said:


> My personal opinion.  No power gurney without power loader.


Back at my last ambulance job, we got the power gurneys a few months before the new ambulance with the loader. 
Our very first call after getting the power gurneys (w/out loader?) A bariatric patient of course. Lifting him and the extra weight of the gurneys wasn't very fun.

Although to be fair, both providers can help lift the end of the gurneys instead of one lifting, one collapsing the legs, but yeah, given an ambulance without a power load, I'd almost rather have a manual Ferno where the legs automatically fold up just pushing it in lol.


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## Tigger (Feb 5, 2020)

PotatoMedic said:


> My personal opinion.  No power gurney without power loader.


I'd rather be able to lift with two people into the ambulance and not have to lift the cot to change height...

Also @Jim37F, with those Ferno cots, can you adjust the height you put the patient on it or is it either up, down, or chair?


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## Jim37F (Feb 5, 2020)

Tigger said:


> Also @Jim37F, with those Ferno cots, can you adjust the height you put the patient on it or is it either up, down, or chair?


The ones I've used in Glendale, seen LAFD use, and in use by our EMS here are fixed height. All the way or all the way down, or chair mode.

Which is definitely their biggest weakness.

I do like the chair mode is easier to get in/out of houses, anecdotally I feel like there's less lifting/carrying patients out to the gurney, as (anecdotally again) it seemed we left the Strykers outside more often).

I suppose a powered version that could adjust in height like the Strykers, and collapse to a more compact chair mode to get in/out of tight places, and then power lift/load into the ambo would be the best of both worlds. Though I'd hate to see the price tag (and hate to finagle the thing if/when the batteries run out in the middle of a call lol)


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## NirvanaMonkey (Mar 21, 2020)

Honolulu EMS doesn't have power yet! Very sad , so underfunded - 20 ambulances for 1,000,000 people!


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## hometownmedic5 (Mar 21, 2020)

My company started deploying them in all new ambulance, and told us they were retrofitting all ambulances in the fleet during PM. 

When that proved to be a lie, they walked it back to all ambulances under xxx miles.

When that proved to be a lie, they claimed there were supply chain problems. 

When that proved to be a lie, they stopped talking about power stretcherS all together.

In November, my truck will be 3/4s of the way through it’s projected service life on it’s municipal contract. Maybe they retrofit it anyway, as it will have a few more years of retail service ahead of it, but I would be surprised, shocked really, if I walk into my station and see a power stretcher in the back.

No power loads though.


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## Fastfrankie19151 (Jul 3, 2021)

All our trucks have power stretchers the New one coming has the power load and then we will switch the rest over at around 20k plus each.


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## Tigger (Jul 4, 2021)

In a move I’d not thought I’d see, Denver Health Paramedics finally retired their fleet of Ferno 35As for Stryker power cots, @Ensihoitaja are there loaders as well?


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## Fastfrankie19151 (Jul 4, 2021)

Well the stretchers are definitely cheaper then a workman’s compensation complaint for back injuries


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## Ensihoitaja (Jul 4, 2021)

Tigger said:


> In a move I’d not thought I’d see, Denver Health Paramedics finally retired their fleet of Ferno 35As for Stryker power cots, @Ensihoitaja are there loaders as well?


Yes, we finally moved into the early 21st century! As of 3 weeks ago, every ambulance has a PowerPro pram and the PowerLoad.


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## PotatoMedic (Jul 4, 2021)

Ensihoitaja said:


> Yes, we finally moved into the early 21st century! As of 3 weeks ago, every ambulance has a PowerPro pram and the PowerLoad.


What is it like being in the modern world?


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## Ensihoitaja (Jul 5, 2021)

My back loves it.


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## wcspa (Jul 6, 2021)

LAFD has no power gurneys.


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## VFlutter (Jul 9, 2021)

Too heavy for the helicopter


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## johnrsemt (Jul 14, 2021)

FT job has power Strykers and load systems.

PT job has power Strykers,  they were going to buy and install the load systems and got a letter from Zoll late last year saying that they were going to support the older Zoll monitors anymore, so they had to buy 5 new monitors instead.


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## dutemplar (Jul 15, 2021)

I have left working for the ambulance service in Qatar.  They have (roughly) $27000US loading systems to help in/ out of the ambulance but manual Ferno stretchers


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## CLTMedic (Jul 21, 2021)

Mecklenburg EMS, Charlotte NC does not


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## CarSevenFour (Jul 27, 2021)

EMS is not likely to ever embrace the modern because they ignore and belittle their past, not learning the lessons of EMS history, unlike most professions. Way back in the 60s and 70s Ferno promoted their One Man gurneys to funeral directors and largely discounted the EMS side, instead providing EMS with the venerable Model-30, designed in 1958, as the industry standard. The Model-30 was based on the deservedly hated Ferno Klever Cot model. The 30 was a good reliable gurney, weighing in (airc) right under 100 lbs. The only problem was that, by the time you placed your patient on the hospital gurney or bed you had already lifted the patient's and/or stretcher's weight as well, close to 7 times. And it required the two EMTs to be totally in sync with each other to smoothly raise, lower and load the gurney with patient aboard. It took a while to get coordinated if you were a short guy like me working with a burly 6 footer.

I've had 2 surgeries on my destroyed knees thanks to using the Model-30, and I thank the Good Lord that by using "good body mechanics" my spine survived the Model-30 days intact.  Like my surgeon (an ex-EMT) said, "We can replace your knees later if we need to, so consider yourself lucky. We still don't have replacement spines..."

The simple invention of loading wheels on the Model-30, making it the new Model-35 was a step in the right direction. It was copied by Stryker-their X-Frame device weighed about 135 pounds unloaded-but the loader still had to bear the entire weight of the stretcher and patient while his/her partner lifted the main wheel carriage so the gurney could be loaded, requiring great upper body strength for the crewmember doing the loading. That was largely due to the fact that most modern ambulances are variances of commercial trucks with an unusually high rear loading height. With stretchers becoming heaver (and you still have to push and maneuver the things with all that mass of batteries and electro-mechanical complexity while wheeling your patient), maybe it's time to rethink ambulance design and work from ground up to move forward. With every new "advance" in the industry comes a whole new set of problems-and we're not even factoring in the cost of the stretcher which is getting more expensive than a late-model used car! 

The Brits were far ahead of us, utilizing effective loading systems in Bedford ambulances for many years now. They were the pioneers in protecting the knees and backs of their EMS workers while the USA was essentially utilizing the manual X-Frame stretcher that was originally developed by Richard Ferneau and El Bourgraf in the late '50s, after they watched Ferneau's wife put away her collapsable ironing board (the original x-frame device). 

I hope one day to see a fully modern anti-gravity stretcher, now that would a heck of a cool thing to work with.


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## CharlotteGriffin (Aug 2, 2021)

Got power stretchers and some trucks with autoloader.


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## The Possum (Aug 31, 2021)

Iambatman said:


> does your service use power stretchers?  Who and where areya located?
> 
> Just trying to take an informal poll


Most of the agencies around here use them. Even the run down mom and pop places. Surprisingly Pro-Transport1 which is a union company does not have them. They still have the manual ones.

I find that pretty surprising.


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