To buy a stretcher and keep it at home in case of emergency?

[Summersoon8]

I had the thought of doing this and then a few days later I read the story of an elderly man with a broken hip with no ambulances available (not even given a long wait time, just told none available at all) and his family took him to hospital strapped to a plank of wood in the back of a van.

AIBU to consider buying some sort of emergency/folding stretcher online and storing it at home in case we're ever in the same sort of situation?

The whole thread is about buying a stretcher to keep at home.

Right… because of the challenges of getting someone to hospital without one…

After reading how various enthusiastic amateurs would go about getting someone to hospital like it's a team-building weekend at work with everyone in the office you hate I'd rather lie on the floor and quietly die.

But far more challenges with one.

Why not think though 2 people carrying a heavy man over a distance a. With stretcher and b. Without.

We’ll that’s assuming there’s 2 people around 🤷‍♀️

In that scenario you’re not going to be able to get a heavy man to hospital at all.

Exactly. You would have to wait for the ambulance whenever that may be, the Amazon stretcher wouldn’t be any use unless you’ve got loads of help. Plus a car you can fit a person on a stretcher into.

Vote stands at 85% unreasonable and the OP flounced a while back.
I won’t be buying a stretcher to keep in the hall but if anyone wants to then that’s up to them I guess, so the 15% will be getting those orders in.

Presumably, though, you understand that in many households there are more than 2 people.

OP’s question was whether she was BU to purchase one for her own family, not persuading households comprising only 1 or 2 people to rush out and buy one regardless.

Presumably people leave the house and they don’t stay in permanently in case they’re required for stretcher duty. 🤷‍♀️

So say a family of 4, mum, dad and two kids - dad needs to be stretchered to hospital. How will you decide which toddler is sturdy enough to help mum with the stretcher?

I’m rather assuming, aren’t you, that people are intelligent enough to assess if it’s likely to be of use in their particular situation?

They know how many people live in their house, if any are old/ill, their general movements, and if their neighbours are around and amendable.

The thread seems to be full of slightly ditsy posters who think the whole thing is hilaire as they’ve not had to get someone to hospital quickly in a dearth of ambulances, or have responsibility for elderly relatives.

Given that you can get a folding stretcher for £40ish - it’s hardly a big deal.

Yes it's a very funny thread because of how ridiculous it is. I've had extensive training on lifting & handling and life support and even with all that I would doubt my ability to get someone safely from a fall position to a stretcher and safely in one piece to A&E - even if my neighbour's brother's best friend's post man drives a HGV and happens to be free. To think you are 'doing' something by having a £40 stretcher kept in the cupboard under the stairs for 'emergencies' is frankly so laughable as to be ridiculous.

Oh you mean like the time my NDN collapsed, his husband was out, he couldn’t get an ambulance, so he called me who called my NDNs from the other side and we got him to A&E asap? (Without a stretcher which was tricky as he couldn’t walk).

'Slightly ditsy posters'. What does that even mean? If you want to buy one @Mirabai nobody is stopping you.

Why would I mean that?

And the only scenario you can think of is a fall right? Not a brain haemorrhage or sepsis or a heart attack or a stroke where time is absolutely of the essence.

I gave the example of a family member last weekend who relative to hospital asap due to being 400 in a queue for ambulances - who had to do so without a stretcher - which proved to be very difficult, partly because the relative had rigid limbs.

You would just sit at home and giggle and wait for them to die?

Quite.

And no-one is stopping OP either so you’re wasting your time.

The OP flounced from the thread, so the whole thing is a waste of time TBF. You seem cross though.

Flounced or got bored…