My biggest EMS Challenge

[TriGuy]

Challenges can come in many forms, some are emotional, some are mental and some are physical. This had a bit of all three.

Back in 2011 we got contracted to transport a special patient to Stanford Medical Center. We were told he was large. We bought our Bariatric rig and Bariatric Power Gurney. The Gurney was rated to lift 800 pounds and the vehicle lift 1200 pounds. When we got there we found that the gurney was too wide to fit through the door. We went inside. There was the largest human I had ever seen laying on a couch all 750+ pounds. After talking to him he said with help and oxygen he could get to the door. Don't ask me how we did it but we did although I was sure he was going to have a heart attack just taking those 20 steps. We got him on the gurney and started to raise him up. at about 18" the gurney said nope this is it. It was enough to get him onto the vehicle lift. The Sprinters suspension compressed fully before the lift came up of the ground. We did the transport. A couple of years later he was on Dr Phil getting weight loss help He got down to 350 then moved back home to where his food enablers lived and blimped back up to 600. Fast forward to 3 years ago when we were running a paratransit contract for the local bus company and there he was back down to 400. He was 20 when I met him. nice guy

Anyways after all that Covid just took him and his mom (she was overweight too)

Screen shot from Dr Phil interview in 2014 (yes that is the couch that I mentioned) RIP Rob

[Honda]

Sad

[Mike]

What Tom said.

[Truckman]

Not only sad, but avoidably sad......Ben

[Dave Grubb]

RIP young man

but avoidably sad

I'm not sure that in all cases it is avoidable. While the cure is obvious, taking the cure is not always possible. I have to think many of those people do not will to be obese but are driven to eating by mental and/or emotional conditions beyond their control.