Large Ambulances To Handle Obese patients In Vegas

The $250,000 (£144,000) vehicle, developed by the American Medical Response group, looks like a standard ambulance. But it is wider, with an especially large wheeled stretcher trolley. The vehicle, called a Bariatric Unit, also has a special ramp and a winch that can handle loads of 1,600lb (114 stone), and be operated by just one crewmember.

Clark County spokesman Bob Leinbach called the need for the larger ambulances obvious as the average American are much heavier. Of Nevada's 1.7 million adult residents in 2004, the Federal Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Health Division estimate that 21 percent, or about 357,000, were obese