Forklift needed to move 250kg patient

JOELLE DALLY | 22nd January 2010

It’s the kind of story usually only heard of in the United States or Britain – a forklift required to carry an obese patient from his house to a waiting ambulance.

But that was exactly what happened when a Christchurch man weighing an estimated 250kg required medical assistance recently.

St John Ambulance was called to the man’s Bromley address about 8.30pm on Wednesday last week.

But because of the size of the man, in his 30s, firefighters were called to help lift him into the waiting ambulance.

However, after assessing the scene, firefighters decided the only safe way to transport the man was by using a forklift.

A pallet was placed on the forklift, and the man was laid onto the pallet at the front door. Both the pallet and the man were placed into the ambulance.

Christchurch Fire Service assistant area commander Dave Burford said firefighters regularly assisted ambulance staff to lift people, but it was "very rare" to use a forklift.

"We go purely as manpower. There are only two people in the ambulance and they just can’t handle it (lifting on their own)," he said.

The man was transported to Christchurch Hospital, where he was yesterday reported to be in a "fairly comfortable" condition.

Christchurch dietician Lea Stening said that degree of obesity was "out there."

She said each year her clinic would see up to six people a year who were over 160kg.

"And that’s just us," she said.

"Last year we had a man who was 218 kilos, the year before that we had a 20-year-old who was 240 kilos," she said.