Bariatric Lifting Device

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nremtjohn

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I work for a small volunteer EMS agency. We have a new frequent flyer whose weight is 500 pounds plus. We are getting called to go to her house as many as 3-4 times a week. The calls typically come in around 4 AM. Needless to say, it takes at least 4 people to lift the patient. In order to get enough help, the fire department, which is also volunteer, has to be called out.

I have been looking for some type of portable lifting system that one or two people could deploy to lift the patient to at least a sitting position where the patient would then be able to stand. I found a device called the ELK Inflatable Lifting Cushion. It works on the principle of the air bags used by rescue crews to lift a car off of a trapped person, etc.

Has anyone used this device, or does anyone have some other system that works well for you?
 
We had a 400+ FF that had a hoist / track system built into her house. It had a heavy duty hammock sling that we would slide under her and latch it to the hoist. It would then lift her and the motorized track would carry her over to our cot like an old Buick at the junk yard.

I don't know about portable units. Maybe a 1 ton engine hoist?

enginehoist.jpg


At 3-4 calls per week I think your leadership needs to get your regional ems council involved and start talking to social services, the docs at the hospital and possibly LE. That many transports is either someone who is not getting the care they need at home, not getting the care they need at the hospital, or is just abusing the EMS system.
 
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bahnrokt said:
At 3-4 calls per week I think your leadership needs to get your regional ems council involved and start talking to social services, the docs at the hospital and possibly LE. That many transports is either someone who is not getting the care they need at home, not getting the care they need at the hospital, or is just abusing the EMS system.
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Good luck with any sort of conviction as far as EMS abuse goes. We have a lady that calls 6-7 times a week, each time gets transported. Field crews hate it, our billing office loves it since she has good insurance. PD wont touch it because "she has a medical complaint".

Why are you having to lift her? Is she falling? Or just can't go from supine to seated?

We have a Mega-Mover with metal reinforcements for bariatric lifts. Still requires manpower though. You could look into the Hovermat but I don't know how much weight it will lift.
 
NVRob said:
Good luck with any sort of conviction as far as EMS abuse goes. We have a lady that calls 6-7 times a week, each time gets transported. Field crews hate it, our billing office loves it since she has good insurance. PD wont touch it because "she has a medical complaint".
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PD may be more willing to help a Vollie service getting called out at 2am vs commercial. We had good success with a pt years ago that would call every Saturday at 2300. The act of a Trooper showing up with the rig one night and asking "WTF?" was enough to slow her down.

You can't tell them that they can't call 911 if they need help. But sometimes you need someone other than the responding crew to start asking questions. I have a very short fuse with some of the FFs that abuse my Vol squad. It's the selfish "Me Me Me! I need attention, so I'm going to wake you up at 2am" attitude that I can't stand. It's not so much me getting up at odd hours. It was my choice to be in the squad and to take overnight shifts. But when our rig is an hour away taking her to the hospital where the er nurses indulge her mental disease and we hear dispatch tone out mutual aid for a real medical need in our district. Now because your selfishness that person having a stroke has to wait an extra 20min to get help.
 
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bahnrokt said:
PD may be more willing to help a Vollie service getting called out at 2am vs commercial. We had good success with a pt years ago that would call every Saturday at 2300. The act of a Trooper showing up with the rig one night and asking "WTF?" was enough to slow her down.

You can't tell them that they can't call 911 if they need help. But sometimes you need someone other than the responding crew to start asking questions. I have a very short fuse with some of the FFs that abuse my Vol squad. It's the selfish "Me Me Me! I need attention, so I'm going to wake you up at 2am" attitude that I can't stand. It's not so much me getting up at odd hours. It was my choice to be in the squad and to take overnight shifts. But when our rig is an hour away taking her to the hospital where the er nurses indulge her mental disease and we hear dispatch tone out mutual aid for a real medical need in our district. Now because your selfishness that person having a stroke has to wait an extra 20min to get help.
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I agree 100% but unfortunately that's how the system is setup and unless something drastic changes I don't foresee any progress with this issue in the near future. We are implementing "Community Paramedics" here in the next couple months. Based off of the Wake County and MedStar programs.
 
Bariatric

It all depends on the size (not only weight) of your patient; power stretchers can lift up to 700 Lbs, and will only need two of you to manuver it; a sliding board, sheet (the plastic ones) or a light tarp may be convenient to transfer the patient from bed to your stretcher and back.

If you buy a bariatric stretcher or actually use a standard mechanical one (manual), with a 500 pounder still gonna need lift assist before you get your backs hurt.

Be safe.
 
Bariatric lifting belt

We had a 600-pound frequent flyer that was a constant struggle to get back on his feet. And we've had many others, too. Looked online to find something that would help us get a patient back on their feet safely without hurting our backs. Didn't find anything, so I invented a bariatric lifting belt that we have used now for the past five years. Great results. No back pains. Patients love it.
 
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