Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Obesity Growing Concern For Paramedics, Presidential Candidates

It's probably one of the more treacherous, or at least troubling places, to deal with the obesity epidemic in America: ambulance and emergency services.

And it's one of the reasons Jenn Vasquez, one of Carroll County's eight full-time paramedics, spoke to the Carroll Rotary Club recenty.

The ambulance service is looking to add to its inventory of Stryker Power Pro Cots, devices that make it easier to lift increasingly heavier victims.

"Every one of us is bearing more weight than is safe," Vasquez said. "In all seriousness our work is becoming heavier."

In recent days local emergency-response officials have told both the Rotary Club and the Carroll Daily Times Herald that the weight of victims has shot up dramatically, that it is not unusual to be transporting people over 300 pounds, or even more than 500 pounds.

Nationally the obesity rate tops 20 percent and 31 states saw an increase last year.

The Carroll County Ambulance Service recently bought two of the Stryker Power Pro cots and plans to add four over the next two years.

"The former nonmechanized cots were rated to hold no more than 500 pounds, and it would take muscle from paramedics and first responders on all sides to get a large patient moved," the Carroll Daily Times Herald reports. "Powered by a rechargeable 24-volt battery, the new cot can easily lift a patient weighing as much as 700 pounds."

The service says they have come close to seeing if that threshold, well, holds.

Besides being a topic among emergency officials obesity is a topic on the presidential campaign trail.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's dramatic weight loss of more than 100 pounds is well chronicled. And tomorrow, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is expected to speak to a national conference on obesity.

As for the war on the front lines, the one waged by folks like Vasquez, it is not getting any easier. In fact, if people keeping eating themselves into Jabba The Hut figures, it is likely some family, some day will have to do what the children in the fictional book "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" did with their overweight mother. They burned the house down when she died so the ambulance personnel or coronor's office wouldn't have to use a crane to get her body from its deathbed inside.

This story is cross-posted at Iowa Independent.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do You interesting of [b]Female use of Viagra[/b]? You can find below...
[size=10]>>>[url=http://listita.info/go.php?sid=1][b]Female use of Viagra[/b][/url]<<<[/size]

[URL=http://imgwebsearch.com/30269/link/buy%20viagra/1_valentine3.html][IMG]http://imgwebsearch.com/30269/img0/buy%20viagra/1_valentine3.png[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://imgwebsearch.com/30269/link/buy%20viagra/3_headsex1.html][IMG]http://imgwebsearch.com/30269/img0/buy%20viagra/3_headsex1.png[/IMG][/URL]
[b]Bonus Policy[/b]
Order 3 or more products and get free Regular Airmail shipping!
Free Regular Airmail shipping for orders starting with $200.00!

Free insurance (guaranteed reshipment if delivery failed) for orders starting with $300.00!
[b]Description[/b]

Generic Viagra (sildenafil citrate; brand names include: Aphrodil / Edegra / Erasmo / Penegra / Revatio / Supra / Zwagra) is an effective treatment for erectile dysfunction regardless of the cause or duration of the problem or the age of the patient.
Sildenafil Citrate is the active ingredient used to treat erectile dysfunction (impotence) in men. It can help men who have erectile dysfunction get and sustain an erection when they are sexually excited.
Generic Viagra is manufactured in accordance with World Health Organization standards and guidelines (WHO-GMP). Also you can find on our sites.
Generic [url=http://viagra.opuskali.ru]Viagra Super Active[/url] is made with thorough reverse engineering for the sildenafil citrate molecule - a totally different process of making sildenafil and its reaction. That is why it takes effect in 15 minutes compared to other drugs which take 30-40 minutes to take effect.
[b]nhs england viagra
Viagra Usa
Viagra Light Switch Plate
Patent Expiration Viagra
Viagra Congestive Heart Failure
Viagra Kopen
Viagra Fast Shipping
[/b]
Even in the most sexually liberated and self-satisfied of nations, many people still yearn to burn more, to feel ready for bedding no matter what the clock says and to desire their partner of 23 years as much as they did when their love was brand new.
The market is saturated with books on how to revive a flagging libido or spice up monotonous sex, and sex therapists say “lack of desire” is one of the most common complaints they hear from patients, particularly women.

Anonymous said...

[url=http://www.drawingboard.org/blogs/?u=videosealfreda1]ApecSoft IVR to WMV MP3 Converter[/url] [url=http://lecturer.elektrounesa.org/?u=videosealwyn5]OtsAV TV[/url]
FlashRip Leawo Free MP4 Converter
http://blog.bakililar.az/videoseallannah4/ DVD Lab Pro 2.3
[url=http://lecturer.elektrounesa.org/?u=videosealexa0]Cucusoft Ultimate DVD+Video Converter 7.6.7.5[/url] [url=http://www.adulthostedblogs.com/?u=videoseanjelica8]Okoker All Video ConverterBurner Pro 6.4[/url]
M2Convert for PSP Blaze Music DVD Creator 2.0.3.451
http://suffolktogether.com/community/members/Sothink-Web-Video-Downloader-for-Firefox-3.0.70621-66/default.aspx Cucusoft Ultimate DVDVideo Converter Suite 7.7.7.6
Super Video Splitter 5.2
my icq:858499940385

viagra online said...

Hola felicitaciones amigo, excelente y muy profesional la información acerca de la obesidad creciente preocupación por los paramédicos, los candidatos presidenciales de este blog todas las personas que viven en Iowa debe leer este blog

Anonymous said...

hi

Anonymous said...

Certainly. I join told all above. Let's discuss this question.

Anonymous said...

Excuse for that I interfere ?To me this situation is familiar. It is possible to discuss.

Anonymous said...

It is interesting. You will not prompt to me, where I can find more information on this question?

Anonymous said...

Can't convert any (whatever I have) video files anymore..

Using TMPGEnc XPress and trying to encode OK quality video files, after few minutes encoding I keep getting the error message: "Read error occurred at address xxx of module 'TMPGEnc3XP.exe' with xxx" or the computer will restart. Same thing with old TMPGEnc Plus.

Then I tried MainConcept MPEG Encoder , but the program went out of existing soon after. When used VirtualDubMod it stopped to the many errors.

No overheating and disks defragmented. What might be wrong?

Anonymous said...

Has found a site with a theme interesting you.

Anonymous said...

I can not take part now in discussion - it is very occupied. But I will soon necessarily write that I think.

Anonymous said...

It is rather grateful for the help in this question, can, I too can help you something?

Anonymous said...

I have some avi files on my hard drive that I downloaded, that I would like to put on a dvd disk. the problem I have is that the files even though they're about 30 minutes in length have the time listed of total time if all the files are joined together. In other words the time of the files joined is 2hrs 45min but on each file the time is listed as 2hrs 45min. So if I attempt to join the files, dvd flick ( the program I'm using to put the files to disk ) can't do it because it takes too much space. My question is there some thing I could do, or a program I could use to put or change the time on the avi files so I could use dvd flick to finish the job.
[url=http://www.topvideoconverter.com/amr-converter/]mp3 to amr converter[/url]