City orders beefed-up ambulance for obese

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, March 9 (UPI) -- The Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, has ordered a special ambulance that can accommodate patients who weigh more than 400 pounds, city officials said.

The $130,000 truck will be specially equipped with a hydraulic lift to load and unload large patients for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, which is seeing an increase in the number of calls involving morbidly obese patients, the Winnipeg Free Press reported Tuesday.

Fire Chief Jim Brennan said the so called bariatric ambulance also will be equipped with other unique equipment such as a wider, sturdier stretcher, wider blood pressure monitors and longer needles.

Brennan said planning was also under way for equipment in getting obese patients out of buildings with no elevators, the report said.

The federal Statistics Canada agency reported in January the trend to obesity was rising, with more than a third of Canadians being overweight and 25 percent of the population being clinically obese, the newspaper said.