talk about a narrow escape...

**Jack** · 08-11-2005, 10:22 AM

.....this COULD have been me a while back..at 373 I was headed in that direction:

Dozen French firemen needed to take 440-pound man to hospital
Thu Aug 11 2005 09:58:43 ET

A dozen firemen were required to lift a 440-pound man out of his home in a small village in northern France to take him to hospital for emergency treatment, officials said Thursday.

The three-hour overnight operation involved the firemen hoisting the hefty patient out of his bedroom on the second storey of a crumbling old house, taking him out the window and lowering him down to a waiting ambulance, fire officers said.

They said a special stretcher had to be built in order to carry the man, whose family had requested he be taken to hospital because of psychological problems.

As big as the job was, it was not the weightiest emergency French firemen have had to face. In 2003, a crew was called out to get a woman 520-pound from her home to hospital.

vinesqueen · 08-11-2005, 10:58 AM

I had to call 911 once for DH when he was about that size. He had some sort of diabetic episode combined with a cellulitus attack. When a man that size passes out it is ... spectucular. They were able to revive him enough so he could walk out to the ambulance. I made sure to tell the 911 operator about DH's size so they could be prepaired.

I'm so thankful that I never had to call 911 when he was 600 pounds...

maudeispam · 08-11-2005, 10:59 AM

Oh my. That reminds of the movie "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?". The momma in the movie dies and she is a huge woman. Well rather than bring embarassment to her at her funeral and her kids, the kids burn the house down with the momma inside. I did not want to be that person, that is why I chose the LAP-BAND® and am so glad I did!

ajack · 08-11-2005, 04:31 PM

Locally a few years ago when i was an ambulance dispatcher we had a 600 lbs pt with a heart attack. the fire dept and ambulance crew had to knock the front porch off to back the ambulance upto the house in the yard, got the truck stuck in the muddy yard(november in washington) called a tow truck to pull them out....all while doing CPR...the guy lived stayed in the hospital for months and last i heard weighs about 250.....

vinesqueen · 08-11-2005, 06:53 PM

And that was my nightmare Ajack. Of course, it's a muddy yard, or had the potential to be a muddy yard all year except for August... :D