The batteries for the power gurneys are lasting 3-5 calls after using them for coming on 2 years. As for the added weight of our pts and gurneys...maybe the problem is more with fitness of EMS. I personally love the power gurneys, anything to avoid having to continually adjust the gurnet, plus you can do it on the fly.
Stryker Powerload
- Thread starter JShoreEMT
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Are these the same batteries from when it was new? It might be time for new batteries, they do wear down eventually. As I'm sure you know they're just cordless drill batteries and they have a set number of cycles before they run out of useful life.
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Well at least you're getting new ones, for free I should hope.
medicnick83
Forum Lieutenant
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Never ever seen this... not in Cape Town.
I doubt we or anyone in Cape Town (EMS) uses this, I can imagine how much these type of devices must be to 'service' or 'look after'
I doubt we or anyone in Cape Town (EMS) uses this, I can imagine how much these type of devices must be to 'service' or 'look after'
crazycajun
Forum Captain
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The power load system is approx 20K. We have them budgeted for this year. If you have to buy the stretcher with the system the cost is approx 35K per unit. The average workers comp claim for a back injury suffered on the job in 911 EMS is somewhere around 250K. So if your service has let's say 7 units and you buy the complete system for 245K and save one workers comp claim then they have paid for themselves. As for batteries the biggest problem is charging them before they have cycled down. We have found that by "shorting" the battery before charging removes the cell memory and allows for a full charge.
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I've never had a problem with them. Never heard anything at my agency about difficulty servicing them either.
I've run 12 hour shifts where we transported 12-15 patients without the battery dying on me. I still love them. I've said it before, they aren't that heavy.
Newby
I'm currently looking at buying a small company that markets a Bariatric Ramp and Winch system for loading and unloading patients. The cost is a fraction of what has been discussed on this thread, takes up minimal space is assembles in about a minute. I'm not in the EMT world yet and would love to get some feedback on this and how the Power Load will impact my business moving forward.
It is a very small niche business but I would be putting my life saving on the line to purchase.
Thank you in advance your your input and honesty.
I'm currently looking at buying a small company that markets a Bariatric Ramp and Winch system for loading and unloading patients. The cost is a fraction of what has been discussed on this thread, takes up minimal space is assembles in about a minute. I'm not in the EMT world yet and would love to get some feedback on this and how the Power Load will impact my business moving forward.
It is a very small niche business but I would be putting my life saving on the line to purchase.
Thank you in advance your your input and honesty.
BioMedMedic
Forum Ride Along
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Your thinking is flawed. You don't turn a 260lb pt. into a 290lb pt, you turn them into a 0lb pt. If you're lifting your cot that much that 30lbs makes that much of a difference you're doing it wrong. As for waiting the 5 seconds, well you've now turned that 290lb pt. into a 145lb pt. because you can use both you and your partner to load the cot. Waiting 5 secs (and it's less than 5) holding 145lbs beats holding 260 for any amount of time.
EMTSTUDENT25
Forum Lieutenant
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I would love for my biggest worry to be battery life. The last 8 months weve been using ferno's from like 1980. Lifting 300 plus patients gets real old after the 5th or 6th call. Just seems like even with the extra weight of the power cots, it would be worth it. Also, did someone say that there are battery chargers on "some" trucks?? You would think that with battery life being an issue there would be chargers on every truck no?
WestMetroMedic
Forum Lieutenant
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Sorry to resurrect something older...
My service used to have the reputation that "everyone has a good last walk" and since we switched to the PowerPro beds 5 years ago, the bed comes out of the truck more than it ever has and back injuries are non existent. Needless to say, I am a fan and total convert.
Now to the issue at hand, my service just replaced 18 of our ambulances with 23 Road Rescue UltraMedic trucks bringing our fleet to 27 total transport vehicles. With this fleet addition, we anticipated the PowerLoad technology and made sure that the floors of our new vehicles were reinforced to support the stresses of this product, which needs to be assessed by your Stryker rep.
The cost of this product is immense, and we are still trying to figure out how to justify it to our hospital, and perhaps back injury reduction is a good route to go down, but just that will not justify spending nearly a million dollars on this product. The wonderfully litigious nature of American society is our other best friend. if that little catch bar becomes disabled by an errant oxygen tubing or dragging bed buckle, the patient could potentially be injured in the fall and in this wonderful world of tort law, you could easily be on three hook for over a million dollars.
My service used to have the reputation that "everyone has a good last walk" and since we switched to the PowerPro beds 5 years ago, the bed comes out of the truck more than it ever has and back injuries are non existent. Needless to say, I am a fan and total convert.
Now to the issue at hand, my service just replaced 18 of our ambulances with 23 Road Rescue UltraMedic trucks bringing our fleet to 27 total transport vehicles. With this fleet addition, we anticipated the PowerLoad technology and made sure that the floors of our new vehicles were reinforced to support the stresses of this product, which needs to be assessed by your Stryker rep.
The cost of this product is immense, and we are still trying to figure out how to justify it to our hospital, and perhaps back injury reduction is a good route to go down, but just that will not justify spending nearly a million dollars on this product. The wonderfully litigious nature of American society is our other best friend. if that little catch bar becomes disabled by an errant oxygen tubing or dragging bed buckle, the patient could potentially be injured in the fall and in this wonderful world of tort law, you could easily be on three hook for over a million dollars.
Amberlamps916
Droog
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That's pretty steep.
sirengirl
Forum Lieutenant
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The amount of money we are spending on this is crazy.... Sorry to necro an older thread, but I was blown away by this. I have been out of my volunteer base for the past 8 months working on medic school, so imagine my amazement when I came back and found this. Please note that you don't actually have to lift up the stretcher to load it, that was my force of habit. You can actually lock it into the powerloader and use the - button to have it load itself if it is locked correctly into position.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo1eYToXrL0[/YOUTUBE]
You may have to open the link in a new window to watch it, when I view it, it is white-out and hard to see...
This youtube video shows a seamless loading and unloading as demonstrated by some brothers across the pond, and with their stretcher folded up you can see a bit of the swing arm lifting up and taking the stretcher with it.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yuwx3VAK7EE[/YOUTUBE]
Again, you may have to open the link in a new window to watch it...
I will preface my post by clarifying that my unit is entirely volunteer, in an extremely geriatric community, and in fact the average age of our EMT, driver, and first responder volunteers is usually over 60. Therefore something like this was seen as a sound investment for us- we have 4 operating ambulances, 2 running at a time, and currently have 3 of these powerload units, 1 of which is installed to date. So far they have been recieving rave reviews from the crews, and everyone that I asked today loves them. I personally think it's the coolest thing I've seen in a while, as now I, weighing barely over 100 pounds, can lift and load a patient who weighs up to 300 (that is what I was told the weight limit is on the winch). In fact I was so skeptical, I did a weight test on it (granted it's not as though I max out the weight...)
From what I can tell lifting it compared to the powered stretchers that the county uses, there is negligable weight difference that I notice. The difference is in the latches in the rig and the hydraulic arm (the "grab bars") that actualy go under the stretcher and lift from the underneath. I was wondering what we should do if toned out to someone who's over the 300lb limit (that I was told) but I forgot to ask. I was also told that on the underside of the horzontal housing unit that runs along the bottom of the rig floor, there are buttons, one is a power button, there are up/down buttons, and then there's a button on it that has a picture that looks similar to the swing arms of the grab bars that lift the stretcher. I was told this is used to maneuver the stretcher up and down if, say, you were parked on a hill or steep driveway.
My one and only gripe thusfar (other than cost of course) is that when you are loading it you want to keep a hand on it to control the speed of loading, or else it will slam itself into the ambulance, and I imagine the speed of loading will increase with the weight of a patient on it.
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Geez you're shorter than I though siren 
That's pretty cool though.
That's pretty cool though.
I'm with Trigger on this one. It's a terrible was of resources to have to call another crew just to lift someone. Likewise, if the stretcher breaks then you replace the stretcher, it doesn't make the whole ambulance un-usable. I'm site they'd have spares, and if not, I'd keep a few of the old manual ones just in case. And If the batteries are bad, carry spares or carry a charger.
It's not about saving time. It's about mitigating risk. A tool is available to help us lift patients, I see no reason not to use it.
It's not about saving time. It's about mitigating risk. A tool is available to help us lift patients, I see no reason not to use it.
Stryker Powerload capabilities
The powerload has a rated lift capacity of 840 lbs with a working rating of 700 lbs. (stretcher and attachment rated at 140).
Never in my wildest imagination would I think of loading a 700 pound patient without at least one Engine Company to assist. We are slated to place our first powerload in service in a week. I'll let you know how it goes.
The powerload has a rated lift capacity of 840 lbs with a working rating of 700 lbs. (stretcher and attachment rated at 140).
Never in my wildest imagination would I think of loading a 700 pound patient without at least one Engine Company to assist. We are slated to place our first powerload in service in a week. I'll let you know how it goes.
medic417
The Truth Provider
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Been using one for a while now and it is a back saver. And if it fails for any reason just like all strykers powercots you still can use it manually. We require all personnel to use it as it works then we disable so they have to unload and load without the power assist. Well worth the money.
WestMetroMedic
Forum Lieutenant
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WestMetroMedic
Forum Lieutenant
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This is a pretty comprehensive demo of the PowerLOAD system that was done for our service. It's 10 minutes long, but worth the watch if you have unanswered questions about it.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aov_QI8H5SU[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aov_QI8H5SU[/YOUTUBE]
pa132399
Forum Crew Member
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my als service is housed in a bls and transport company station. the bls and transports just got two of these things and by far they have to be the simplest thing ive ever used and we were shown how to troubleshoot a problem so the above post about it rendering the truck useless is incorrect if the system entirely failed you can still use it just like we are all used to by pushing the powerload all the way up towards the cab and using the latch. very nice system and will let you know what comes of them after it is used for awhile.