28 September 2009

ACT Ambulances get a fatty lifter

| johnboy
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Simon Corbell has proudly unveiled a “bariatric ambulance” entering service in the ACT.

    “The new bariatric ambulance is a multifunctional vehicle that has the capability to transport a patient weighing up to 500 kilograms,” Mr Corbell said.

    “The transportation of obese patients is an area of growing challenge for all ambulance services and health agencies around Australia.

    “This new vehicle is leading edge in design and has an automated loading system. It will improve patient care and safety as well as substantially reduce the manual handling involved with transporting patients with special needs.”

Apparently a frontend loader with a sling is not suitable.

While not a study in slim athleticism myself, I reckon that when one can no longer fit into a standard ambulance it’s past time to make some radical lifestyle changes.

Bariatric Ambulances

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farnarkler said :

What I meant is who is Jamie Piesley????????

Drastically offtopic.

Google it, or even use the search box at the top of the page.

What I meant is who is Jamie Piesley????????

farnarkler said :

Anna ??????????????

Just the first thought that popped into my head. Not sure why, possibly because I spent too many years living a couple of houses away. I found it better not to try and self analyse too much.

Tooks said :

Addison said :

vg, I think you’ll find it’s kilojoules, not calories.

but thanks for being awesome.

I think you’ll find 1 calorie equals 4.2 kj.

and I think you’ll find I was fishing…

Anna ??????????????

Addison said :

vg, I think you’ll find it’s kilojoules, not calories.

but thanks for being awesome.

I think you’ll find 1 calorie equals 4.2 kj.

farnarkler said :

Time to bring in Jamie Oliver and his school diet.

When I saw this in the sidebar, it said “Time to bring in Jamie”. I thought you were going to say Piesley.

Time to bring in Jamie Oliver and his school diet.

10 year old boys with tits.

wrong wrong wrong.

deezagood said :

I don’t think a lot of the kids today stand a chance of growing up to be healthy, trim, fit adults, because their parents are either utterly ignorant about food or just plain lazy.

They reckon that fat and muscle laid down before you’re, I think, 8, will be with you in some form when you’re an adult. If a kid is fat, it’s going to be so much harder for that kid not to be a fat adult.

I see kids now with tits, and balloon cheeks, and they seem to always be eating, or demanding food of their parents. How can they do this to their kids?

vg said :

Get off your re-inforced soapbox. Losing weight isn’t hard. Taking responsibility for yourself is these days apparently…..and I’m talking those for whom obesity is a choice

I’m not being nasty nor abusive, I’m just trying to make something which, to me, seems an entirely obvious point. Last year I competed in a ‘sport’ where I built myself up to 120kg then back down to 90kg. I choose not to do that ‘sport’ any more but the weight transition was done through discipline, exercise and calorie control. I had to exercise some discipline to not eat things that I knew didn’t suit my goals. It didn’t kill me

Typical vg. I’ve never been near 120kg. Your typical response is to assume that when anyone disagrees with you it must be self defensive. Still I doubt that I’ll get back to 90kg. I mustn’t have your enormous self discipline. Why do so many of your comments involve putting others down while boasting about your own abilities. I suspect you suffer from obesity of the head.

Get off your re-inforced soapbox.

*golf clap*

vg, I think you’ll find it’s kilojoules, not calories.

but thanks for being awesome.

Calories in v calories out. It ain’t rocket science. I’m sorry, but you won’t get sympathy from me if your obesity is due to self-perpetuating laziness and poor diet.

I’m not being nasty nor abusive, I’m just trying to make something which, to me, seems an entirely obvious point. Last year I competed in a ‘sport’ where I built myself up to 120kg then back down to 90kg. I choose not to do that ‘sport’ any more but the weight transition was done through discipline, exercise and calorie control. I had to exercise some discipline to not eat things that I knew didn’t suit my goals. It didn’t kill me

monomania said :

nyssa76 said :

So excuse me if I don’t find ‘fatty humour’ humourous. It is down right dangerous and absolutely stupid. By ridiculing obese people, do you think that that will get them to the gym? They already crap on themselves, they don’t need you to do it for them from the comfort of your computer.

To which

vg said :

Actually the only crap associated with a lot of these people is what they put in themselves. Yes, there are no doubt some with ‘medical’ issues but the vast majority of what we call fat people in our society are so because of poor lifestyle and nutritional choices. And that is very sad. I have no sympathy whatsoever for the self-inflicted obese person.

Should that leave ‘fat’ people open to abuse by those who don’t appear to have matured past the school playground? Trouble is that this ‘fatty humour’ does reflect a lack of decent human feelings and encourages insecure bullies to openly abuse people they don’t even know. A fine way to develop a caring cohesive society and workplaces.

Where’s the abuse? I don’t like their lifestyle choices.

Get off your re-inforced soapbox. Losing weight isn’t hard. Taking responsibility for yourself is these days apparently…..and I’m talking those for whom obesity is a choice

Just keep telling yourselves “it’s a health problem” as a means of justifying your negative comments.

Fat people don’t want to be fat. They don’t want to be ridiculed nor do they want to feel crappier than they already feel. Fat people have and do tend to stick to their houses because they are afraid of being made fun of and this does hinder their ability to lose weight. But yes, it’s a “health problem”….try mental health problem when morons make stupid comments.

Pommy bastard6:12 pm 03 Aug 09

monomania said :

Most of those concerned that others are overweight take the line that these people have some kind of responsibility to society to conform to a ‘healthy’ body mass. Why? Because it offends their sensibility or because they are worried about future burdens to the health budget. Certainly not because they have much concern for the obese person.

Or out self respect? Wanting to enjoy life to the fullest? Wanting to have a good sex life? Wanting to provide a good example to their kids? Wanting to be able to

And if obese people are derided and it is proposed that they be denied medical treatment because their condition is preventable, maybe the footballer, skier or skydiver with a broken leg or neck should be left sans ambulance and medical care as well.

Surely if those people are requiring medical treatment it is due to accident, rather than willfull personal neglect?

And the yachtsmen and bushwalkers who get lost be forgotten. Or marathon runners and triathletes who develop joint problems and heart conditions in later life.

Most go to great pains to minimise those effects.

And forget about dealing with STDs. Tough. You should have made better life style choices.

If you catch a STD through unprotected sex, your lookout matey.

But again I must ask the question why are you supporting people neglecting their health here? Why are you making excuses for preventable health problems? Why do you WANT people to be obese?

make private health insurance like every other insurance, where you pay premiums based on risk. If you’re a smoker, heavy drinker, overweight, etc, your risk factors, and hence premiums, increase.

I don’t think a lot of the kids today stand a chance of growing up to be healthy, trim, fit adults, because their parents are either utterly ignorant about food or just plain lazy. Our school has fruit break (presumably to introduce healthy food habits to the kiddies), during which time the kids are asked to bring in FRESH fruit or vegies. Some of the kids bring in processed mueslie bars, fruit roll ups or fruit in jelly. One kid brings in chips every day ‘chips are a vegetable’. Seriously, these poor little buggars don’t stand a chance.

But at least all those other people don’t need special ambulances purchased for them.

Most of those concerned that others are overweight take the line that these people have some kind of responsibility to society to conform to a ‘healthy’ body mass. Why? Because it offends their sensibility or because they are worried about future burdens to the health budget. Certainly not because they have much concern for the obese person.
And if obese people are derided and it is proposed that they be denied medical treatment because their condition is preventable, maybe the footballer, skier or skydiver with a broken leg or neck should be left sans ambulance and medical care as well. And the yachtsmen and bushwalkers who get lost be forgotten. Or marathon runners and triathletes who develop joint problems and heart conditions in later life. And forget about dealing with STDs. Tough. You should have made better life style choices.

Pommy bastard11:30 am 03 Aug 09

In every single medical condition where a side effect is a predisposition to weight gain, that weight gain is best managed by healthy eating and exercise.

So stating that anyone who is obese, whether due to a medical condition side effect or not, should take some responsibility for their diet and exercise regime is sound advice, not promoting “fatty hate” or any of the other ways some here have tried dodging the personal responsibility aspect.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy10:14 am 03 Aug 09

I can eat while walking, dammit! You can’t tell me what to do!

Put down the fried chicken, and go for a walk.

nyssa76 said :

So excuse me if I don’t find ‘fatty humour’ humourous. It is down right dangerous and absolutely stupid. By ridiculing obese people, do you think that that will get them to the gym? They already crap on themselves, they don’t need you to do it for them from the comfort of your computer.

To which

vg said :

Actually the only crap associated with a lot of these people is what they put in themselves. Yes, there are no doubt some with ‘medical’ issues but the vast majority of what we call fat people in our society are so because of poor lifestyle and nutritional choices. And that is very sad. I have no sympathy whatsoever for the self-inflicted obese person.

Should that leave ‘fat’ people open to abuse by those who don’t appear to have matured past the school playground? Trouble is that this ‘fatty humour’ does reflect a lack of decent human feelings and encourages insecure bullies to openly abuse people they don’t even know. A fine way to develop a caring cohesive society and workplaces.

“So excuse me if I don’t find ‘fatty humour’ humourous. It is down right dangerous and absolutely stupid. By ridiculing obese people, do you think that that will get them to the gym? They already crap on themselves, they don’t need you to do it for them from the comfort of your computer.”

Actually the only crap associated with a lot of these people is what they put in themselves. Yes, there are no doubt some with ‘medical’ issues but the vast majority of what we call fat people in our society are so because of poor lifestyle and nutritional choices. And that is very sad. I have no sympathy whatsoever for the self-inflicted obese person.

Well said, Nyssa. If people care more about how you look than who you are, then do they really care at all?

I can tell you exactly when I lost weight. It was when somebody made me feel beautiful just the way I was, and then I began to reflect that on the outside.

Quite happy to acknowledge that there are some people who ‘legitimately’ overweight, their ability to keep off weight impaired by disability or drug.

Calories in v calories out applies to everyone. I know SERIOUSLY underactive people due to disability who manage to maintain a healthy weight, others who are overweight and others who are massively obese. The only difference is the amount of food they eat (and in at least one case, the amount of dope smoked no doubt contributes to increased appetite).

Yes because ridiculing overweight people is the way to help them lose the weight vg.

AnnaKey, good for you. Like Danman I too have Glucose Intolerance. Like Danman I work out and still despite a strict diet look ‘fat’. Yet, I can and do run laps around ‘skinny’ people at the gym.

My mother had glucose intolerance. She then got diabetes and then died (this year) of pancreatic cancer. As you know diabetics are more prone to pancreatic cancer given the pancreas is in charge of insulin.

So excuse me if I don’t find ‘fatty humour’ humourous. It is down right dangerous and absolutely stupid. By ridiculing obese people, do you think that that will get them to the gym? They already crap on themselves, they don’t need you to do it for them from the comfort of your computer.

You’d be amazed at how many people are getting laparoscopic gastric banding these days. People are using their superannuation to fund the surgery. Hopefully Canberra will only need one ‘fatty ambulance’.

I’d be pretty disgusted to hear that an ambo or fire fighter had injured themselves lifting a morbidly obese person. Many of us are prone to putting on a few excess kilos, but when this happens, we modify our food intake, incrase our exercise, and generally take steps to control our weight gain. I find it very hard to feel sorry for someone who chooses morbid obesity over mild fatness.

I read a very amusing article soem years back – it was a medical article, commenting on lap band surgery. It noted, in very careful language, that similar results to lap banding were obtained in a group of obese people who were placed in a situation where they could not get access to any food other than normal nutritionally-balanced meals…

I like my food, so I went and got a copy of the CSIRO Diet, and got myself to the point where all my clothes fit, and stopped there.

bd84 said :

TP 3000 said :

I’ve seen this ambulance driving around Canberra for around a month. It just looks like the US style ambulance. But then again it is quite rare to see huge people in hospital & I wonder if this ambulance could carry 2 average bodies that aren’t seriously injured from road incidents?

I saw it driving down the parkway to the Kambah ambulance station about a month or so ago. It looks awesome at night as it’s lit up like a christmas tree with side marker lights covering just about every line of its body.

Does it have a ‘Danger Wide Load’ sign on the back

I am with Postalgeek here. Once people stop making excuses and take responsibility for themselves a whole heap of things will change, obesity being one of them

Danman said :

No lift policy has been alive and well in hospitals for ages… Dunno why it took ambulances so long to follow suite..

Having a no lift policy for ambos isn’t really practical. I mean look at the work that be doing at a home address, how do you get someone off the ground, through a narrow door and down a flight of stairs if you can’t lift them? They have methods to make lifting a patient a little easier and will always get backup when attempting a problematic exit (usually in the form of 5 burly fire fighters).

The main reason this truck is needed isn’t for the rear 400kg+ person, but for those over 100kg. Or even those who are just tall (regardless of girth). I dunno how many here have been on an regular ambulance stretcher but they’re not very wide or tall, even for fairly average sized people.

Right, then. We all hate fat people. Fine.

Pommy bastard2:06 pm 01 Aug 09

Postalgeek said :

But you cannot tell me that two-thirds of Australian have a psychological, physical or some other reason beyond their control for being overweight.

There are a hell of a lot of people who knowingly make poor choices and I refuse to see them as victims of their circumstances.

+1

As someone who takes exercise daily, sometimes two hours a day, in order to keep my weight at reasonable levels, and to make up for other abuses of my body (enjoyable ones like alcohol)I have little or no tollerance for those who use other peoples missfortune as an excuse for doing nothing to help themselves.

nyssa76 said :

I saw Corbell’s announcement for what it truly was – we have a new ambulance that caters for a rather serious medical issue in our society.

It seems others saw it as an opportunity to tae pot shots at the overweight and THAT’s called maturity.

Perhaps some of us taking the pot shots are taking them at ourselves. Postalgeek is right. I’ve no real excuses for my current size, but I can find plenty of ways to justify to myself putting off going to the gym and cutting down on the crap food and drinks. Very few though are anything except laziness and bad habits.

I’ll qualify my pot shot. I grew up in an overweight household. My father, aunt, and first cousin have type II diabetes, and my father now has real mobility issues and poor circulation. All avoidable. My brother and I remain active and know what will happen if we let ourselves go, and who’s to blame. I work fulltime, with freelance work outside of that, and have a young child to care for. I commute to work on a bike as part of my window of exercise.

As I said before, there are people out there with real impediments to maintaining a healthy weight and my comments are not aimed at them. Granny and Danman, kudos to you for doing whatever is in your capacity to do to address your situation. That deserves respect. But you cannot tell me that two-thirds of Australian have a psychological, physical or some other reason beyond their control for being overweight.

There are a hell of a lot of people who knowingly make poor choices and I refuse to see them as victims of their circumstances. I have friends who eat crap, complain about their weight, are given repeated invitations to join me at the gym, for a jog, for a walk, or for a bike ride, and they never show up. They’ve slept in, or had to meet someone for breakfast, or forgot.

So I’m not going to tiptoe around the feelings of people who choose to live slob lifestyles and generate a huge burden on a health system that is already overloaded. It is not that difficult to be healthy in Australia. We have a vast selection of sports and recreation and healthy food in a sunny country. There is a lazy slob mentality out there and it deserves the contempt it gets.

Amen.

You’re right Nyssa. The obesity issue is a serious one and more complex that just someone’s inability to size no to an extra slice of pizza. However, would it be inappropriate in this thread to say lighten up?

But take it how you like.

I saw Corbell’s announcement for what it truly was – we have a new ambulance that caters for a rather serious medical issue in our society.

It seems others saw it as an opportunity to tae pot shots at the overweight and THAT’s called maturity.

And as for my physical state, should I need an ambulance, it will probably need to be that one

And your point is? There are serious stories here that receive serious comment. There are others that are less so. The fact that Corbell drew attention to the 500kg capacity was always going to invite comment.

So yes, we are all a bunch of juveniles who laugh at fart jokes. How about we all go to Tilleys and discuss Neitzsche over a soy latte

Danman, Nyssa, you’re not being forced to read it.

Nyssa, with this and the Charmayne thread, I have to fully concur…

Insecure little people hiding behind ISP’s…

The BS comments on this post and in the OP are one of the reasons I don’t post on here much anymore.

The level of infantile and unoriginal jokes on this topic demonstrate the RA has gone down hill in the past year or so.

For those making comments of a derogatory nature, I’m sure you’re as perfect as they come with no physical issues except the back pain caused by walking around with a big ego on your back.

I saw this ambulance the other day. it was crawling up a hill at like 30 kilometres an hour but hammered down the other side at 150. maybe carrying its first big patient?

bd84 said :

I saw it driving down the parkway to the Kambah ambulance station about a month or so ago. It looks awesome at night as it’s lit up like a christmas tree with side marker lights covering just about every line of its body.

So is this Pimp my Ambo?

so why couldn’t I vote with firefox?

Does it have flags and stuff and a fore-runner ute with “oversize” signs?

TP 3000 said :

I’ve seen this ambulance driving around Canberra for around a month. It just looks like the US style ambulance. But then again it is quite rare to see huge people in hospital & I wonder if this ambulance could carry 2 average bodies that aren’t seriously injured from road incidents?

I saw it driving down the parkway to the Kambah ambulance station about a month or so ago. It looks awesome at night as it’s lit up like a christmas tree with side marker lights covering just about every line of its body.

GottaLoveCanberra said :

“If you seriously want to see change e.g. weight loss they need to be treated with understanding and respect and given help and support. They need to be built up not torn down.”

If your lifestyle choices results in your being overweight then you will not receive a shred of respect or understanding from me.
Not directed at you specifically Granny.

Who would want it. Your good opinion wouldn’t mean much.

It’s definitely a “growing” problem. Look at all the porky kids about, I’ve never seen anything like it. Porky kid = obese adult.

there’s a big difference between people carrying a few extra kilos due to stress, medical conditions or laziness and a quarter ton pizza vacuum.

This site gets a little bit more like the Daily Telegraph everyday

Is it true that on its first emergency call, they had to go via the KFC drive through on the way to Canberra Hospital?

That is your choice, GottaLoveCanberra.

GottaLoveCanberra6:13 pm 31 Jul 09

“If you seriously want to see change e.g. weight loss they need to be treated with understanding and respect and given help and support. They need to be built up not torn down.”

If your lifestyle choices results in your being overweight then you will not receive a shred of respect or understanding from me.
Not directed at you specifically Granny.

So umm, I’m 104 5ft7 gorilla frame Insulin resistant (Genetically induced) – have been for quite a few years, on a good week I ride 160km, a bad week around 60… Have been doing this for quite some time now… Do I still pay fat tax ? If so, do I pay as much as sedentary people ?

If so, I can only see this as an incentive to stop riding my bike.

Great scheme…All fat people made themselves fat… yep thats a fair call

/sarcasm

#34

+1

(And glad to hear you were able to turn it around, Granny!)

It’s not just a matter of calories in and calories out, it’s the fact that insulin tells the body to store them as fat rather than use them as energy. It is how the person deals with insulin that is often the factor. In my case this was no doubt caused by my rapid weight gain after marrying my husband. I personally believe that this was related to issues around our family history, and my father telling me as a young girl that I was ‘just like my mother’ with a very derogatory inference. My mother had fallen in love with somebody and left the family home and I was terrified deep down that I really was ‘just like her’. I think, subconsciously, I wanted to be unattractive so that men wouldn’t look at me and I would be safe from ‘myself’ – my inner ‘wicked mother, scarlet letter’ self. Most eating disorders have a psychological basis, as FC has said. It’s seldom as simple as thinking how weak a person is. I am not a weak person. I am a very strong person, but there are these stereotypes. A person with a substance-abuse issue, be it drugs, alcohol or food, is going to get worse not better when they are belittled by society. If you seriously want to see change e.g. weight loss they need to be treated with understanding and respect and given help and support. They need to be built up not torn down.

Good on you Granny!

Pommy bastard said :

I cannot see what you are saying there housebound? Are you saying that the medications in themself are responsible for people gaining weight? If so they should be shipped to sub-Saharan Africa to save those who are dying of starvation.

As I say, the meds may stimulate appetite, and they may sedate so the person may not want to exercise, but they do not distort the “calories in vs calories out requirement”, that is a constant.

Sorry, had to be un-housebound.

And yes, having watched people endure the results of meds, I would definitely blame the effects of the meds on their bodies. Having seen this, I would no longer judge anyone for being reasonably overweight.

Although, I might draw the line at a half-tonne human who cannot even get up to look after themselves. Can’t quite blame that on the meds.

johnboy said :

I personally would say anyone over 200kg should be taken into care until they get back under 150 (with dispensation for the very tall)

I don’t mind overweight people. Big people are something else. They are intimidating, give people cricks in the neck and block out the view. They make it harder for others to get leadership roles and good jobs. I say cut them down to size. Any one over 185cm should have their legs shortened to make them just like us.

I was one of those ‘fat bastards’ for nearly a decade. I didn’t do it for fun. It was actually miserable enduring the scorn of society, let alone the health issues. In truth I didn’t eat much more than the average person, but once I had stacked it on my body seemed to store everything no matter how little. I was 106 kg before I lost weight. I tried lots of things. I don’t know what I would have done if the last thing hadn’t worked for me. I know that I didn’t want to live a long life if I had to live it like that. But I was still somebody’s mother – somebody who would have wanted me to live if I’d had a heart attack.

Inappropriate said :

So don’t help fatties, smokers, drunks and druggies? So we should only help those who don’t desperately need help? Hrmm…

once i last long enough without the smokes, I will probably turn to comfort food. no way am i getting that big, though. weight watchers rules my house.

A fatty lifter?? Johnboy, maybe you should be a little more mature when posting articles.

we help anorexics and bulimics. I would suggest that being THIS overweight to require the use of a special ambulance, is more than a lifestyle choice, and is a result of serious mental illness.

Inappropriate3:17 pm 31 Jul 09

So don’t help fatties, smokers, drunks and druggies? So we should only help those who don’t desperately need help? Hrmm…

Pommy bastard3:09 pm 31 Jul 09

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8172258.stm

Don’t have fat friends would seem to be the answer.

That fellow has since dropped half his weight, so we’ll let him get the ambulance.

j from the block said :

Not trying to tease or poke fun, just trying to imagine mentally the size of someone weighing 500kg.

This big? (first Google Images hit for 500kg man, that guy’s name is Manuel Uribe, if you want to look into it further)

Note he is 1) wearing only a towel, 2) not leaving his bed, and 3) has huge bedsores from where his weight comes in contact with the bed.
Monsterously obese people, if they need help, can’t get it for themselves.
(and can become either very vulnerable to abuse from their carers, or very controling of their enablers to some degree)

Granny said :

So should the ambos just leave them to die? And why should we transport people who damage their health through drinking, smoking, drugs or foolishness. These are all symptomatic of other problems, as is obesity. And some people do have medical conditions that require drugs which cause weight gain.

Quite happy to acknowledge that there are some people who ‘legitimately’ overweight, their ability to keep off weight impaired by disability or drug. But there are many who are ‘illegitimately’ overweight. I call them ‘fat bastards’.

I don’t think the question is how many residents we are going to get approaching 500kg, but how many over 150kg where the ambos and their equipment struggles.

Answer, many.

Google fat ambulance and see that this is a requirement everywhere.

Pommy bastard2:55 pm 31 Jul 09

I cannot see what you are saying there housebound? Are you saying that the medications in themself are responsible for people gaining weight? If so they should be shipped to sub-Saharan Africa to save those who are dying of starvation.

As I say, the meds may stimulate appetite, and they may sedate so the person may not want to exercise, but they do not distort the “calories in vs calories out requirement”, that is a constant.

Note quite right on the medication thing. I’ve known psych patients who had to go on very strict and demoralising diets just to not gain weight – when they were actually trying to lose it – not a good move for a psych illness. The week they went off the meds, off came the weight. And we won’t even get into undiagnosed thyroid complications etc.

Not all generalisations and generally true all the time – just most of the time.

That said, if our culture managed lifestyle choices better, then the demand for heavy lifting medical equipment would be much reduced. And we’ld all be healthier.

I personally would say anyone over 200kg should be taken into care until they get back under 150 (with dispensation for the very tall)

j from the block2:38 pm 31 Jul 09

Not trying to tease or poke fun, just trying to imagine mentally the size of someone weighing 500kg.

j from the block2:37 pm 31 Jul 09

One question, how many residents of the ACT are around the 500kg mark, or 400 for that matter?
And another, pushing what was the obese / morbidly obese mark myself(as most front row forward looking guys are)last time I checked (6 foot 3 and around 120 kg) at what point to you realise you need to get to hospital, and get something fixed (the biggest guy I have met was 180)?

What? Vicki wasn’t available to test it out for the media?

Yes, I have seen it happen with antipsychotics, and also a friend of mine who eats very carefully has experienced weight gain with diabetes.

Pommy bastard1:57 pm 31 Jul 09

Granny said :

And some people do have medical conditions that require drugs which cause weight gain.

Not quite correct Granny. Some medications cause increased appetite whilst having a sedative effect, (anti-psychotics are notorious for this.) The medications themselves do not “cause” weight gain, but they do exacrerbate it in those who do not adjust their diet/exercise accordingly.

I wash myself with a rag on a stick.

I love teasing fat people, its the last legal form of discrimination around. Good fun.

AG Canberra said :

A fat tax would sort everything out. Just think – fatties paying more for flights, softdrink, for clothes, for health insurance and medicare (and this could be done for smokers and suntanners as well)

A ‘fat tax’ shouldnt be that different to a smoking tax. As a smoker, I understand the purpose of the tax is to either encourage me to quit, and if I choose not to, then to provide additional health funding due to my lifestyle decision, with the expectation that I will need more healthcare in life.

If an individual decides to eat unhealthy food, not excercise, and generally not lose weight, why should they not be taxed extra for the extra charges they place on society, for the above mentioned.

As a smoker, Im instantly marginalized when it comes to healthcare, insurance, etc. Why is an obese person not treated the same way? We both make personal lifestyle choices which will affect our health, and make an active choice NOT to take healthy steps in life. The only difference is that as a smoker I make a contribution to the health budget everytime I smoke a cigarette, an obese person simply makes a contribution to McDonalds or KFCs bottom line.

If ACT Health is willing to pay to help smokers quit, why dont they put this much effort into reducing obesity?

What about a 20c tax on every hamburger or every upsized meal? If smokers can pay 20c for every cigarette, it seems only fair to tax others who burden the health system with their choices too.

I’ve got it! We could pass legislation forcing fat people to undergo yearly liposuction. The fat could be rendered down to create biodiesel and used to power the ACT’s bus fleet. The costs could be covered for the first few years by selling all of our bariatric equipment.

So should the ambos just leave them to die? And why should we transport people who damage their health through drinking, smoking, drugs or foolishness. These are all symptomatic of other problems, as is obesity. And some people do have medical conditions that require drugs which cause weight gain.

Grow up

A fat tax would sort everything out. Just think – fatties paying more for flights, softdrink, for clothes, for health insurance and medicare (and this could be done for smokers and suntanners as well), for taking up two seats on the bus and for rides in the fat ambulance.

Within a few years we’d all be healthier, and the defecit would be erased.

Pommy bastard12:47 pm 31 Jul 09

#11

+1

Obesity is mostly the result of lazy, undisciplined decisions so no, I don’t think the environment should adapt to suit the person. That just removes further disincentive for people to take responsibility for their own health and it’s impact on the community.

As it is obesity puts a massive strain on health resources, to the amount of $8 billion and growing. There has to be a point where the community cannot be expected to shield people from the consequences of their own decisions.

There is no shortage of bariatric patients at the Canberra Hospital. There are special beds, commodes and lifters to accomodate them, and there is often a shortage of equipement, such is the demand.

An appropriate addition to the ambulances of a nation that now considers it acceptable for McDonalds to open outlets in hospitals (in the interests of freedom of choice of course).

I saw JoelMcHale on TV the other night describing that show ‘Dance Your Ass Off’ as ‘the biggest exploitation of fat people since they put cookie dough in ice cream!’

Cruel, but funny!

That’s so sad to be that fat. when I have gained between 5-10 kgs above my normal weight I can already feel a depletion of energy and drive. Let alone being 100+kgs overweight.
So scary.

Gungahlin Al11:46 am 31 Jul 09

“The transportation of obese patients is an area of growing challenge…”

A deliberate pun, or someone didn’t think?

Yay! Fattisism! One of the last non-taboo discrimination ideologies.

Enjoy it while it lasts!

If the record was 560kg then the ACT government must be expecting a whole lot of people to try and beat that record….. and them needing emergency hospital treatment when they succeed.

No lift policy has been alive and well in hospitals for ages… Dunno why it took ambulances so long to follow suite.

They should be using slings in hospitals to move all non ambulent people – not just morbidly obese people.

Nursing does not come with the pre requisite of being a powerlifter – regardless of lifestyle – 60kg is still 60kg for a slight ambo or 2.

I’ve seen this ambulance driving around Canberra for around a month. It just looks like the US style ambulance. But then again it is quite rare to see huge people in hospital & I wonder if this ambulance could carry 2 average bodies that aren’t seriously injured from road incidents?

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