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Big Ambulance

NPR's Lynn Neary talks with Mike Bell, EMS supervisor for American Medical Response in Portland, Ore. He talks about why and how he helped design an ambulance to transport patients weighing up to 500 pounds. The ambulance, called a Bariatric Unit, has already been put into service. Most of the calls they get for this unit are not 911 calls, but calls to get people to the hospital who can't be transported in cars, and need medical personnel in the unit with them.

Copyright 2003 NPR

Lynn Neary is an NPR arts correspondent covering books and publishing.