Boston's emergency medical services department unveiled a new ambulance designed to help transport obese patients without injuring EMTs:
Link via Super Punch | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user sonyone703 used under Creative Commons license
Boston emergency services debuted a specialized ambulance designed to carry obese patients on Tuesday, and the retrofitted vehicle was promptly needed on two calls, authorities said.
The ambulance is equipped with a special stretcher that can hold 850 pounds and a hydraulic lift with a 1,000 pound capacity, said Captain Jose Archila of Boston's Emergency Medical Services fleet.
The ambulance is likely to be needed two to four times a week, he said.
"We have seen a huge increase in the last six months," said Archila about the number of calls by obese patients.[...]
Back injuries among crews are common due to strain from lifting extremely heavy patients, he said. The ambulance makes the patients more comfortable as well.
In appearance, the ambulance looks like any other. The hydraulic lift is folded and stowed underneath the bed, and a gas tank was repositioned to accommodate it, Archila said.
Link via Super Punch | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user sonyone703 used under Creative Commons license
LOL
Having said all that I'm fairly fat myself (purely my own fault), if you want to be reminded what's typical weightwise try shopping for clothes.
In the US - I'm a medium
In the UK - large to XL
In Taiwan - XXL is normally too small
Since I now live in Taiwan the most effective dieting technique I've found is to try clothes shopping before lunch and dinner.
My impression is that apart from differences in the typical frame between countries(for Taiwan anyway) the most obvious explanation is in the amount of food eaten. Portions in the UK are significantly bigger than in Taiwan and the the US is truly the land of plenty.
Solving the problem of obesity requires attacking the root of the problem, which is the fact that the majority of overweight and obese people lack the self-control to eat a healthful diet (in fact, even people within the ideal weight range often eat unhealthy diets; it's just less obvious).
The ideal fix would be to reduce the availability of sugar, such as by getting rid of corn subsidies that enable the cheap production of HFCS, and regulating the maximum serving sizes that restaurants are able to sell. Good luck getting such measures passed, though.
Hehe.
That's the ticket. It's Darwin's way of thinning out the herd.
Agreed. Paremedics have a duty of care to attend to people in medical emergencies whether they are normal weight or obese. They should be protected from back injuries from attempting to lift such heavy people.
Another related thought...at one of my local services, the bariatric unit is sometimes too small...think about that. The super obese are out there too. Usually the cot is strong enough, the winch and vehicle are strong enough...it just that they are too wide to fit. The trucks can't get any wider and safely travel down most city streets. But, just think of that.
That conversation got my Dad thinking and my father has lost over 100 lbs (down to 180 lbs!) in the last year or so. It prompted my mom to lose 60 (down to 135 lbs!). They know they are in their 50s and not on meds at all. The idea that, if necessary, they could be hurting the people trying to potentially save their lives made my mother physically sick and it prompted them to take action. It has even prompted me to lose the 30 stubborn pounds I've carried around for years.
Obese people should be ashamed of this new ambulance. Why are we all forced to accommodate others who have no self control?
The problem is fat people don't "struggle" with weight issues. They just keep shoveling food into their pieholes while shopping for a bigger scooter to cart their fat ass around.
In this case, Yoda is right. There is no "try" either do, or don't eat more calories then you burn. It's not rocket science - and all the reasons fat people use when they say "I can't" is pure horsesh*t.