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Back-saving stretchers tested

Province buys eight, may replace fleet

By: Larry Kusch

Posted: 10/26/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Wayne Glowacki / Winnipeg Free Press Winnipeg paramedics Jon Peters and Heather Dayholos use one of eight new power-lift stretchers at the legislature Thursday.

The Selinger government is looking to purchase new power-lift stretchers for the province's ambulance fleet to relieve paramedics' back pain and extend their careers.

It has purchased eight of the new stretchers -- at total a cost of $150,000 -- to test over the next two years.

If the devices perform as hoped, the government will spend between $3 million and $8 million (depending on the model chosen and whether ambulances need to be modified) to replace stretchers in all 175 ambulances across the province.

"We are taking a very careful approach to make sure the technology lives up to its promise," Health Minister Theresa Oswald said Thursday, as paramedics demonstrated one of the power-lift stretchers.

She said if the province commits to replacing all of its ambulance stretchers, it would do so in stages.

Paramedics say patients have got increasingly heavier in recent decades, and they're taking more calls per shift than ever before.

The result is that many have to take time off work or switch jobs when their backs give out.

"It's debilitating," said 28-year paramedic Doreen Boyd, who has missed work due to back injuries in the past.

Boyd, who is based in Oak Bluff, believes the new stretchers will cut down on injuries. She said paramedics typically lift a patient about seven times on a call. Injuries occur when the attendant lifts and twists their back sideways or lurches forward while carrying a patient, she said.

Meanwhile, the Progressive Conservatives Thursday accused the Selinger government of foot-dragging on the issue. They say they've been calling on the province to put power-lift stretchers in ambulances for almost a year.

"The health minister announced plans to look at these power lifts in May of this year. Clearly execution is not the strong point for the health minister. Our paramedics and first responders deserve better," said PC health critic Cameron Friesen.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 26, 2012 A8

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