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Village Ambulance Upgrades Truck For Bariatric Patients
12:43PM / Wednesday, December 24, 2014
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Starting on Jan. 1,  Village Ambulance Service will have significantly upgraded care capabilities due to new equipment and the retrofitting of one of its four ambulances.

While Village Ambulance Service has always made accommodations for the transportation of bariatric patients, they have recently invested in the purchase of new equipment and vehicle retrofitting to increase their capabilities.

Bariatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the treatment of patients who are classified as obese. Emergency and non-emergency transportation of patients who weigh 500 pounds or more, carries with it myriad challenges, often requiring additional vehicles and manpower.

Village Ambulance Service will introduce a new winch, ramp and stretcher system designed to accommodate weights of up to 1600 pounds. In all, the company invested more than $15,000 for special equipment and to retrofit the vehicle to accommodate the needs of these patients.

Shawn P. Godfrey, general manager of Village Ambulance Service, said the upgrade is in keeping with the service's commitment to the community.

“Our company has always sought safe and practical ways to accommodate the needs of our bariatric population. In making this upgrade, we invariably increase our ability to meet these needs,” he said. “The commonly accepted means of transporting a bariatric patient is to have between four and six trained emergency medical service providers on hand to lift the patient in and out of an ambulance. The ramp and winch system, combined with the special ambulance stretcher, means that the patient can be transferred without needing as many medical personnel. This is also a benefit to the patient, who may worry that he or she is dependent on four or more individuals, all of whom are susceptible to sprains and injuries.

Godfrey said that there has been a growing need from area healthcare facilities to have a bariatric patient transport system, and said that, at the present time, Village Ambulance Service is the only northern Berkshire ambulance company with this technology.

“We are glad to be able to offer this more efficient and dependable service to our healthcare partners,” he said.

 

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