And they keep getting bigger and bigger. Our service had to get some bariatric cots and we need several crews to heft them into the ambulance,(when they have a pt on them) and we have pt's that don't even fit on those!!!! Some ems services have gone to outfitting one or more of their trucks w/ wenching lift systems b/c of how many bariatric pts they transport. One of our local er's have built in lift systems into all their er rooms.Ditto on not doing what you used to do but mine was less about weight and more about lifting heavy patients for almost 20 years..does some damage. My other sibs never did heavy lifting in their jobs so they don't have the same damage.