Bigger EMS helicopters required in US
To accommodate the nation’s super-sized patients, emergency medical providers are now being forced to purchase larger helicopters. More than two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, which has caused a dilemma for air transport providers.
“It’s an issue for sure,” Craig Yale, vice president of corporate development for Air Methods, told NBC. “We can get to a scene and find that the patient is too heavy to be able to go.”
Some emergency helicopters are unable to carry patients weighing more than 250 pounds, and others are able to accommodate patients weighing up to 650 pounds. As a result, emergency medical providers have been forced to expand their fleets and purchase larger air ambulances, which can be costly.
Patients become too heavy for medical emergency helicopters ? RT USA