The Eagle Grove EMS service just got something very welcome – a Stryker Auto-Lift system, which will enable them to lift heavy patients into the ambulance without quite so great a risk of injury to themselves. Such as back injuries, torn or strained muscles, torn ligaments, and other injuries that can occur when lifting a stretcher bearing a heavy patient. And it greatly reduces the risk of injuries to the patients as well.
"Avoiding injuries to the patient as well as the volunteers and staff is our main priority, said Lashelle Burger, Service Director of the Eagle Grove EMS. "Our job includes lifting and moving patients," Burger added, "the auto-lift allows us to simply line the stretcher up with the loading dock and press a button."
It's a pretty nifty system. To demonstrate it, the EMS staff actually loaded me into the freshly retrofitted ambulance using the auto lift. Now, as people around town probably already know, I'm a big fella. Probably exactly the kind of person this lift was designed for. And just the kind of patient I'm sure EMT's would dread having to lift. But the auto-lift did it easily, even though the operator was much smaller than me.
Burger noted that workplace injuries would be a burden to any business. And particularly now, when recruiting is proving difficult for all sorts of employers, loss of staffing can be quite a problem. And of course, the cost of medical care is always a priority.
Burger also pointed out that the lift will lead to improved patient care. "I speak for myself here, but running a majority of the 911 calls takes a toll on a person’s mind and body," she said. "The auto-lift cuts out the stress of loading a patient and will allow me personally to focus more on the patient's status." Burger also explained that holding a patient in the air while waiting for the stretcher's wheels to retract "can be physically exhausting." Not only does the auto-lift eliminate that strain, it does so while being operated by just one EMT, instead of two.
"Multi-tasking is a must in emergency medical services but if we can improve that process, the end result is more apt to be positive," she said. And the auto-lift does that by enabling the EMT who is no longer needed to help with loading, to care for the patient. Which could be as crucial to their survival as breathing for them "with a bag-valve-mask, if needed" or as simple, but beneficial, as calming a patient in a traumatic event.
"Some patients worry about us instead of themselves," Burger stated. But the auto-lift eliminates concerns for both patients and care providers. "There are no worries of the stretcher tipping over or muscle injuries to the provider," Burger explained. And that means no worries of being dropped, or of hurting the provider who's trying to help them, for patients. And it means no worries of being sidelined by an injury for staff and volunteers.
The cost of the system, fully installed, was $30,800. "That's less than the cost of one back surgery," noted EMT Anthony Wubben, which he pointed out would have been inevitable without the auto-lift. Burger noted that the expense should actually lead to a decrease in spending, through "prevention of workplace injury, and improvement of direct patient care." It will also "contribute to running an efficient and reliable emergency medical service" she stated. And for a community like Eagle Grove, which relies partly on volunteers, does not have a hospital in town, and also provides emergency services to nearby towns, that seems essential. And it stands to reason that it will almost certainly decrease costs significantly in numerous ways.
"This is an important purchase for Eagle Grove EMS," Burger concluded. "I have high hopes that this new addition to Eagle Grove Emergency Medical Services will enable us to provide high-quality and efficient patient care and decrease the cost of man-power and workplace injury."
Indeed, auto-lift systems are such an important advancement in ambulance technology, which save so much expense, and save lives too, that new ambulances have included them as standard equipment since 2020.
