An EHS ambulance outside of South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater, NS. Photo: Evan Taylor
Up until now, virtually all patients who have been transported in an ambulance in Nova Scotia would have been manually lifted in by paramedics.
Now paramedics are set to get a little help in the form of mechanical lifts.
On Wednesday Health and Wellness Minister Randy Delorey announced the government would be spending $2,7 million on installing new power stretchers and power lifters.
EHS operates 160 ambulances around the province, this funding will outfit 62 of them with new equipment.
The lifts’ primary goal is to increase employee safety according to Delorey “This is primarily to help with EHS safety. Paramedics do a lot of lifting right now which can lead to a lot of muscular-skeletal injuries. By doing this their jobs will become easier and safer.”
In addition to the ergonomic benefits, Janel Swain who is Supervisor of Ground Services for EHS thinks it may also speed up service.
“This will reduce the amount of time we spend figuring out how many paramedics we need to send out to perform lifts, now we will know that the staff on these ambulances are capable of completing virtually any lifts.
Before this full-scale roll out the lifts were tested on two ambulances in circulation, Swain said they were pleased with the results of the test.
