Overweight: Clinics and emergency services are facing a problem - and have to react

Created: 05/15/2022, 11:57 am

By: Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

A normal wheelchair and a wheelchair for overweight people: The two clinics in the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen are prepared for obese patients.

© David Ebener

Clinics and emergency services are employing more and more obese patients.

That's a problem: Many materials are not designed for weight and volume.

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen - The mouse doesn't bite off a thread, the German Michel is getting fatter.

This poses new challenges for rescue workers and hospital staff.

Even the outfitters of fire-fighting vehicles and emergency services have to take obesity into account.

Robert Kühn, Managing Director of the Wolfratshausen District Clinic © Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

Overweight: Clinics and emergency services are facing a problem - and have to react

The new turntable ladder for the Wolfratshausen volunteer fire brigade, which was recently delivered, includes a stretcher that can be loaded with a weight of up to 300 kilograms.

"In the past," explains commander Andreas Bauer in an interview with our newspaper, "it was 180 kilograms." Among other things, the fire brigade is requested when a patient has to be transported from a higher apartment.

It is often easier for the patient to walk through the window using a turntable ladder than to carry him through a winding or very narrow stairwell.

Thomas Schnubel, head of the rescue service of the BRK in the district © Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

Obesity is forcing manufacturers of operating tables to rethink - treatment tables hold 300-kilo patients

The Wolfratshausen-based company Brumaba, manufacturer of high-quality operating tables, has also noticed that increasingly heavy demands are being placed on their products.

"You can also see that in old class photos," says Managing Director Benedikt Brustmann.

“People used to be slimmer.

And that's not just because of Corona, although the pandemic has intensified this trend again." His company has adapted to this and supplies clinics and medical practices in Germany and abroad with treatment tables designed for patients up to 300 kilograms.

People are getting fatter - emergency services have problems: "It's the volume"

Weight is often not the biggest problem.

"It's the volume," says Thomas Schnubel, head of the rescue service in the BRK district association.

That seems logical: If 140 kilos are distributed over a height of 1.90 meters, that is of course something different than if the same mass is compressed to 1.60 meters.

This means, among other things: In order to secure the heavy patient on a stretcher, belts have to be lengthened - and further adjustments have to be made.

If the patient to be transported exceeds the weight of 180 kilograms, the BRK calls a heavy-duty ambulance for support.

This special vehicle is stationed in Murnau and can be used in the three districts of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Weilheim-Schongau and Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen.

But it doesn't matter how the patient is transported: "We do everything we can to preserve his human dignity," emphasizes BRK rescue service manager Schnubel.

Clinics are reacting to more and more fat patients: “Can act very well in an emergency”

The two clinics in the district are prepared for obese patients.

"Our operating tables are designed for a body weight of up to 260 kilograms," said the spokesman for the Asklepios city clinic in Bad Tölz, Christopher Horn, when asked by our newspaper.

And: "The standard patient beds on the wards for up to 230 kilograms of body weight." According to Horn, some patient rooms have also been converted and special equipment such as wheelchairs and walkers for obese patients have been purchased.

"We can therefore act very well both in planned operations and in emergencies."

You can read the latest news from Wolfratshausen, Geretsried and the surrounding area here

The situation is similar in the Wolfratshauser district clinic.

"So far we have not had a patient with us that we were not able to treat, either planned or not," emphasizes Managing Director Ingo Kühn.

Although the facility in Loisachstadt has so-called heavy-duty beds, which only break down when they weigh more than 300 kilograms, the district clinic tends to refrain from treating very obese women and men.

"As a rule, these patients are taken to a maximum care provider," explains Kühn.

The background: Many of the extremely obese patients have a variety of diseases - that's why they would get the best help in university clinics or from so-called maximum care providers.

Obesity increases the risk of a heart attack or stroke.

In addition, there is a growing risk

Overweight: Clinics and emergency services are facing a problem - and have to react

Anyone who wants to relieve themselves and the bathroom scales will find help in the clinics.

A team of doctors, nutritionists and consultants as well as psychotherapists is on hand at the Asklepios Clinic to provide help and advice.

A self-help group (SHG Adipositas Bad Tölz) also meets online once a month and, if the Corona regulations allow it, every first Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. in the conference room of the clinic administration.

An obesity indication consultation is also offered.

Here it is clarified whether an operation can help in addition to conservative therapy (booking by telephone on 0 80 41/5 07 12 11 or online at www.asklepios.com).