Stretcher wars...

TransportJockey said:
We have a stretcher graveyard full of ferno power cots and old h frames. The old h frame fernos are our backups until we get our next shipment of Stryker power cots. I had never touched a ferno until I got out here and I wish I never had. They are absolutely a pain.

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As do we. I hope the room burns in a horrible fire.
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We basically still have that pram...
 
Ensihoitaja said:
We basically still have that pram...
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Even if I didn't know what state you worked in, what you just called a gurney would clue me in.

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NPO said:
For what it's worth, we have both H frame Ferno and X frame power Stryker gurneys.

I can. It understate how much I hate the Ferno gurney. It looks like something Joe plumber built at home depot, and it sounds and handles like it too. Parts are stiff, movements are clunky and abrupt, and screws Re always backing out and the handle system to unlock the gear teeth is failure prone. I've never had a Stryker fail, be it manual or power X frame, but I've had SEVERAL Ferno H frames leave me stranded.

Maybe the problem is not Ferno vs Stryker but H vs X frame. But the design and craftsmanship of Stryker is better than Ferno IMO.

I have also use a power X frame Ferno and it was much better than the H frame, but it was abrupt in its adjustments and the Stryker was still better.

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I felt this way, then we got INxes...
 
The only good Ferno is the old 35A. Nice and light for a manual cot. One of our volunteer agencies went out and got the Ferno powered cot, and my god was that thing the worst piece of junk ever. It was heavy, the load wasnt balanced and top heavy, the mechanism wasnt smooth, it was garbage. Then the town brought Stryker Powerloads and they are magical. Ive played with the INx thing at trade shows and besides some fancy LEDs for the whacker in all of us, i just dont find it an improvement over the stryker system
 
Ensihoitaja said:
How do you like them? Any issues? Have you noticed any issues doing hill or side angle loading?
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I love them. We are pretty rural, so the fact that they are super heavy doesn't really matter since we aren't bringing the cot into the house on most calls anyway. When we do, the ability to get up a deck with four stairs with minimal lifting is pretty nice. They load like a dream, even if the ambulance is both pitched up/down and sideways on a hill at different angles to the stretcher. I work at another place in the county with the powerload and we often end up in rough situations with it on sidehills. The INx's legs can also be controlled manually, which makes getting the right loading angle even easier. Once you get the front wheels aligned with the track, you are pretty golden. We bought PacRacs for them as well, they have "doors" on either side that make unloading patients with the monitor and other accoutrements still on them possible.

I was skeptical at first, but after demoing them head to head and using both in our area on actual calls, the INx is better hands down.
 
Side note, but I love the PacRac. We have one at our service and it makes the monitor/pump transports so much easier.
 
Tigger said:
I love them. We are pretty rural, so the fact that they are super heavy doesn't really matter since we aren't bringing the cot into the house on most calls anyway. When we do, the ability to get up a deck with four stairs with minimal lifting is pretty nice. They load like a dream, even if the ambulance is both pitched up/down and sideways on a hill at different angles to the stretcher. I work at another place in the county with the powerload and we often end up in rough situations with it on sidehills. The INx's legs can also be controlled manually, which makes getting the right loading angle even easier. Once you get the front wheels aligned with the track, you are pretty golden. We bought PacRacs for them as well, they have "doors" on either side that make unloading patients with the monitor and other accoutrements still on them possible.

I was skeptical at first, but after demoing them head to head and using both in our area on actual calls, the INx is better hands down.
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Cool, thanks! I got to demo one last week and I REALLY liked it, but I didn't get to use it in any real world situations other than the DG parking lot.

I'd heard second hand of some issues on hill/side angle loading, I'm glad to hear you haven't run into it. I'm sure your typical terrain is much more rugged than ours.
 
Ensihoitaja said:
Cool, thanks! I got to demo one last week and I REALLY liked it, but I didn't get to use it in any real world situations other than the DG parking lot.

I'd heard second hand of some issues on hill/side angle loading, I'm glad to hear you haven't run into it. I'm sure your typical terrain is much more rugged than ours.
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I have heard some crews struggle, but we didn't really get much training on them to be truthful. Still think they beat out the Powerload for that though.
 
One of the FD rescues near my station was testing out the Ferno INX.....all I really know is they hated it. We are just beginning to phase in the Stryker Power Lift gurneys, and our new ambulances have the Power Load system as well. Because they are still new and being phased in I've only gotten to use those a couple of times but I can (if stating the obvious) say Power Lift +Load > Power Lift without the Load system, and that's > than a non powered standard Stryker X frame which is otherwise our standard gurney.

I also maintain that the Ferno ProFlexx 28Z > Stryker X frame. Like I said, my previous dept used them exclusively so I used it for 1 1/2 years before going to my current service with Stryker X frames. Never once when I was using the Ferno did I wish I had a Stryker.... almost daily using the Stryker I wish I had the Ferno. Even though it's a manual gurney, you almost never had to lift and carry a patient, vs the Stryker is too big, too bulky to fit into most people's residences where I work, we almost invariably have to leave it out on the front porch every call, then hope the patient is ambulatory because otherwise we have to lift and carry them to the gurney (then lift the combined weight of patient+gurney to load height, then lift that into the ambulance, then support that weight unloading, then lowering the gurney at the hospital). With the Ferno, because it collapses into the chair mode and is lighter, we were almost always able to get it inside and to the patient (or at least significantly closer), and once you got the patient into the gurney, there's virtually no lifting. Just bring the legs back up to gurney mode, push it into the ambulance as the legs simply fold up under it, and simple pull back out at the hospital, the legs simply unfold and unlock automatically.

Even though it's lighter, and looks less "beefy" than the the Stryker, I've never once had a failure of the Ferno. Granted I've never had a failure of a Stryker itself either, I HAVE had failures of the Stryker's locking mechanism in the ambulance. Both where the mechanism came unmatched in transit, and where it becomes stiff and you have to either put more force on the little ball detent to get it to snap shut (thus jostling your patient around) or sticking your hand into the mechanism to release it manually...
 
It's been quite a few months since anyone has posted here. I wanted to get an update on your guys' thoughts between Stryker Powered systems vs the Ferno INX. Thanks!
 
Ferno is awful. End of story.

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With a thousand bucks, I could do better than a Ferno.
 
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