March 14, 2010

Bigger people weigh on city budgets

Communities have to buy pricey stretchers

If the Madison Heights City Council adopts its proposed 2010-11 budget, the Fire Department will get two battery-powered stretchers at a cost of about $24,000.

Superior Ambulance Service -- which serves several metro Detroit cities, including Riverview, Detroit and Roseville -- is in the process of replacing all of its stretchers with motorized ones.

The Royal Oak Fire Department bought one of the stretchers about 18 months ago. And Southfield -- which was used as a model by Madison Heights when officials started considering the switch -- has used them for five years.

"There are so many obese people now, that it is not rare for us to go out and pick up a 300-pound person or a 400-pound person," Southfield Fire Chief Peter Healy said.

Officials say the stretchers, which typically can carry up to about 700 pounds, reduce knee, shoulder and back injuries. Cities such as Royal Oak and Madison Heights hope they also will reduce worker compensation costs.

"We put a lot of money into training these people, and we want to have them here full-term," Healy said.

He said that when the city started transporting patients in 2005, workers' comp cost Southfield about $75,000. The city, which also has implemented a morning stretching program for firefighters, saw that number drop to $58,000 by 2008.

Ken Sink, general manager of Superior Ambulance, said that runs for overweight patients account for only about 3% of all calls, but cause 30% of the injuries and workers' comp claims.

Madison Heights Fire Chief Kevin Scheid said firefighters have been injured from repeatedly lifting people.

The city also plans to spend $2,600 on two power chairs that help get patients down stairs.

Chris Way, director of marketing for EMS at Stryker -- the Kalamazoo-based manufacturer of medical devices that has sold many cities their equipment -- said two-thirds of the stretchers the company now sells are powered.

Way, who co-founded the company, said the trend is up. The motorized equipment, he said, reduces injuries and increases safety for patients.

"Anything we can do to reduce the stress on their bodies, I think will be beneficial," Scheid said. "You just hate to see the guys hurting themselves."