DYER, Ind. (AP) — From extended blood pressure
cuffs to roomier dental exam chairs and wider terry cloth hospital
slippers, the health care industry continues to adapt to larger patients
as America’s obesity rate climbs.
In Lake County, 36 percent of
adults are considered obese, defined as having a body mass index greater
than 30, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University
of Wisconsin Population Health Institute most recent County Health
Rankings.
"We are one of the most weight-challenged counties in a
state that ranks 13th in the nation," said Kathy O’Donnell, a nurse and
manager of the Midwest Bariatric Institute at Franciscan St. Margaret
Health hospital in Dyer.
The same report shows 29 percent of Porter County adults and 32 percent of LaPorte County adults are
obese.
Patient
care, from the operating table to the MRI unit, has to accommodate
bigger patients, O’Donnell told The Times in Munster (http://bit.ly/1tI3jgt ).
"When you sit in a chair, you assume – as a thin person – that a chair will support you," she
said.
If that chair were to collapse, a person could get hurt and feel humiliated.
"When a patient sits down, they need to know they’ll be safe," she said.
Safety is taken into consideration in the planning phase.
"As
we revamp all of our physicians’ offices and same-day surgery center,
we’re designing it around bigger weight limits, because we know that the
population now is much larger than it was 25 years ago," she said.
That
means sturdier waiting room chairs, wider wheelchairs and floor-mounted
toilet bowls. Wall-mounted toilets are easier to clean, but they cannot
support as much weight as a toilet braced by the floor, she said.
The
hospital also has a system to differentiate equipment and gowns made
for larger patients and can choose it without embarrassing patients.
"Staff
can identify what the weight limit is on any piece of equipment, so you
can ensure patient safety," O’Donnell said. "And patients won’t know.
It’s done in a process that only staff can recognize what that is. You
just always want to keep patient safety at the forefront of your mind."
Curtis May, director of supply chain for Methodist Hospitals, said most hospitals have long since geared
up for bigger patients.
"Probably
about 10 years ago, hospitals started to become aware of the need to
have on a regular basis different items to accommodate patients beyond
the normal size," he said.
A standard wheelchair can support 300
pounds, but models made for 750 pounds came on to the market about a
decade ago. When hospitals buy wheelchairs, they order a certain
percentage with at least a 500-pound capacity, he said.
The
standard width on a wheelchair seat is 19 inches. The ones to
accommodate larger patients have 22- to 23-inch wide seats and often
have a removable side arm, he said.
Beds, stretchers, operating
tables, MRI machines and even shower chairs are built in varieties that
can withstand heavier weights. Lifts are becoming more common, to either
lift obese patients or help lift them, May said.
"Those lifts will often have a capacity of 1,200 pounds or more," he said.
Bigger equipment and sizes come with a heftier price tag, often costing twice as much as standard items,
May said.
They become necessary as Americans grow more obese.
O’Donnell
said there is more awareness now and more focus on weight as an
indicator of health. Doctor’s offices measure height and weight to
calculate body mass index and lead a discussion about related risk
factors.
"When you are bigger, your risk factors go up for so many issues," she said.
O’Donnell thinks the next evolution will be private rooms for checking a person’s weight.
The
prospect of getting weighed in a hallway and the possibility of the
number being read aloud or the scale unable to register the full weight
is enough to deter obese patients from going to the doctor, she said.
"It
is paramount to never have that humiliation," she said. "I think it can
become a barrier to access to health care. The most common complaint I
see from women is that they don’t want to go the gynecologist for
routine checks, because they don’t want to get weighed."
She knows
from working with bariatric patients that most insurance companies want
to see a history of obesity for at least five years before covering
weight loss surgery. But, if people never get on the scale, there is no
record of their weight, she said.
O’Donnell said it is unfortunate the attitude many people have about those who are obese.
"Obesity
is one of the last prejudices we have in this country that’s
acceptable," she said. "It’s acceptable to laugh at the person who can’t
fit in the chair or to think people who are bigger are lazy. It’s
something society does not seem to find offensive."
This is an AP Member Exchange shared by The Times.