Topeka, Kan., is one of at least 30 communities across the United States that has commissioned ambulances with a specialized cot, ramp and winch to lift patients who weigh more than 350 pounds.
(ABC News Photo Illustration)
Many ambulance services and hospitals do not charge the patient directly for the specialized services. But it will cost something to continually serve such patients or keep up with the obesity rates. In 1999, 32 states had an obesity rate below 20 percent. Today, only one state has an obesity rate below 20 percent.
"We look at it as an investment in service and quality versus an additional cost that we have to pass off on somebody," said Steve Lawler, president of Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, N.C.
Similar to a sub-specialty in geriatrics, Lawler said Pitt County Memorial Hospital has worked with the American Nurses Association to develop an accreditation for bariatric nursing. The hospital also has invested in lifts and special beds to accommodate bariatric patients in or outside of the bariatric surgery center.
"It [the change] really has been over the last two years," said Lawler. "It's reflective in regards to what's going in health care and what's going on in health reform."
Perhaps spurred either by the idea of changing the focus of hospitals and health care, or by sheer logistics, hospitals in many areas are implementing similar renovations.
When Baptist Hospital East in Louisville, Ky., opened a 144-private-room tower, the administrators kept weight in mind.
"Each nursing unit [floor] includes two bariatric rooms equipped with an overhead lift to assist the patient from the bed, or even all the way to the handicapped accessible bathroom," wrote Kit Fullenlove, public relations manager for Baptist Hospital East, in an e-mail to ABCNews.com.
Such lifts are intended for 440 to 660-pound patients, and the renovations have extended to older areas of the hospital.
"We are renovating many of our older nursing units and converting many semi-private rooms to private rooms. In the process, we are creating one bariatric room per nursing unit, each of which features a larger doorway to better accommodate the use of a larger, bariatric bed," Fullenlove said.
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