Ambulance Lift Takes the Burden Off of Backs

Even the fittest EMS provider can be laid out by a back injury, and as patients get larger the risks for injury only grow.

Mac’s Lift Gate, Inc. has been manufacturing lifts for commercial and wheelchair use for over 57 years, and the Mac’s Bariatric Ambulance Lift maintains that tradition of function and ease of use, making it easier for providers to lift patients into the ambulance—saving patients’ dignity and providers’ backs.

Lee Shaun, an EMT-P with Harris Health System in Harris County, TX, says they’ve been using three of the Mac’s bariatric lifts for two years, and Harris Health System purchased the lifts expressly because their providers were running into a lot more bariatric patients and they needed to do something to minimize the stress on providers’ backs.

In particular, Shaun says he likes how easy the bariatric lifts are to use. And he’s not the only one who’s been impressed. “I was at a conference in Fort Worth and all the while I was wondering what we were going to do to out-show the other people. The guy next to me had a ramp with a winch system. I watched him get it ready one morning, pulling out all this stuff. So I pulled our bariatric lift out and unfolded it—it’s so easy to do—and I put a stretcher on it. I just left it right there to use as an exhibit. And it turns out it was the highlight of the show. The guys next door with the winch came over, and I guess they were satisfied with it, but once they saw ours they were like, ‘Wow, where’d you get that?’”

Shaun says he conducts all of the in-services at Harris Health Systems on the bariatric lifts, and his fellow providers are equally impressed with its functionality and ease of use. And whenever people ask him, he’s quick to recommend the Mac’s Bariatric Ambulance Lift. “I was at that show and was trying to figure out how to get an edge; it turns out all we needed was that bariatric lift.”

Visit www.macsliftgate.com.