Power Stretchers - Who's not using em?

[PotatoMedic]

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?

 

[Ensihoitaja]

My back loves it.

 

[wcspa]

LAFD has no power gurneys.

 

[VFlutter]

Too heavy for the helicopter

 

[johnrsemt]

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.

 

[dutemplar]

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

 

[CLTMedic]

Mecklenburg EMS, Charlotte NC does not

 

[CarSevenFour]

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.

 

[CharlotteGriffin]

Got power stretchers and some trucks with autoloader.

 

[The Possum]

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.

 

[Fastfrankie19151]

Power loads spoiled me i won’t work on a truck without a power stretcher or preferably a power load system

 

[johnrsemt]

Car Seven Four;
A friend of mine is getting 2 disks in his spine replaced next week, instead of fusing them. The Army is supporting the surgery and he can stay in the reserves, if he was fused he wouldn't be able to.