Lifting the Smallest Patients to the Largest

Equipment that allows an EMS provider to lift bariatric patients safely and securely is vital, but it’s equally important when those patients are among the smallest providers will ever see. The Ambulance Lift Gates from Mac’s Lift Gate is the right tool for either scenario.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has used Mac’s bariatric lifts for well over a decade, says Brad Smith, paramedic/shift commander for the Children’s Transport Team at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

“The reason we’ve stayed with it is because we’ve found it’s a very durable, easily operated and maintained, and very flexible lift application for our trucks. We’re a pediatric neonatal critical care transport service, so our patients range from as small as 650 grams to up over 400 pounds. It gives us the flexibility to lift our isolettes without any difficulty or risk to our crews or patients, and the same is true with our larger patients.”

Ambulance lift gates from Mac’s come in three models: isolette, for up to 500 pounds; stretcher, for up to 750 pounds; or bariatric, for up to 1,300 pounds.

“We had a patient in one of our hospitals who required bariatric care,” says Smith. “A standard ambulance could have carried him, but he needed critical care and he weighed over 500 pounds. We were able to load him without having to lift him because of the Mac’s Lift Gate. Additionally, we run on average about 1,200 isolette calls a year. Our isolettes weigh around 325 pounds, so for being able to move a piece of equipment that delicate—but also that heavy—the Mac’s Lift Gate is absolutely essential to us. We’ve recommended it to a number of other services with trucks patterned very similar to ours, and we say they can do without a lot of things but the lift gate is not one of them.”

Visit www.macsliftgate.com.