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Article: Rescue gear bulks up to handle big patients.(Local)
- Article from:
- The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)
- Article date:
- November 2, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 The Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Matthew Bowers
The Virginian-Pilot
PORTSMOUTH
The woman weighed as much as 1,000 pounds, and that required a special blend of creativity and muscle from the city ambulance crew tasked with transporting her to the hospital.
They called for more help - two fire engines and a ladder truck arrived, increasing the people on hand to about a dozen. They needed more room - firefighters unbolted stretcher brackets and other equipment from the floor of the ambulance, which they backed up to the stoop of the patient's home.
They strapped together two backboards to create a ramp. Twenty-four hands grabbed the edges of a salvage tarp ...