Stop the box, there is a monster back here! The Charleston Fire Department had the chance to demo a new “Power Cot” from Monster Medic yesterday. The salesman brought it in and gave a wonderful presentation on its feature’s. Cots or stretchers have evolved from the days of face to face lifting to a battery operated self lifting stretcher. Man what a concept, so what would ever make someone think that this is not a good idea? Let's do the math on this thing! How many times in a shift to you lift the cot up and down? Let’s see at least twice per run times six to ten runs a shift. That is twelve to twenty times you are lifting and loading a patient into your ambulance. That would be a good workout for anyone. Imagine that now you are going from twelve to two. Does this mean we have become lazy? Absolutely not! I think that we have let technology catch up with us. Sure this thing weighs more, sure it costs more, sure it…..well that’s about it. I would trade an extra 20-30 pounds of not lifting any day!
During the demo I heard every excuse in the book about power cots. They are too heavy, we will get complacent while lifting, or the best one of all it will catch more blood and nasty’s. Well ok, we may have to clean and maintain it more but man not having to lift these four, five or six hundred pound patients is a blessing in itself. Ems is a tough business filled with obese, overweight, and not fit providers. We need to look at this new invention and remind ourselves to put the cheeseburgers down and prepare for the next run. It all starts with some personal responsibilities. Diet, exercise, and training are great starting points in preparing for EMS. But all that we do personally will now be assisted by a big ORANGE MONSTER. Monster Medic thank you for your demo and hopefully you will be serving Charleston WV citizens very soon!
