HOULTON, Maine — It took more than two years for an Aroostook County EMS to get a new, specially designed $404,802 ambulance used for safely transporting patients who weigh more than 500 pounds.
On Friday, the Southern Aroostook County Emergency Medical Services Authority finally had its new bariatric emergency vehicle parked at its Houlton location on Access Road off Route 1.
“We ordered it in 2023,” said Board Chairman Dan Hiebert. “It was at the end of COVID and there were no trucks available.”
A bariatric ambulance is specially designed to transport patients who weigh up to 1,600 pounds. It is equipped with a sturdy stretcher and a winch — similar to a truck or bumper winch — as well as a ramp system to load the patient. This makes it possible for the authority to respond to the emergency medical needs of people with severe obesity, providing a level of service not previously available in Aroostook County, said Hiebert.
“One of the things we had to do as a board, we had to decide whether or not we needed a bariatric ambulance here,” he said. “We know there is a need in the County. We don’t know how big a need because this hasn’t been available. “
According to the State of Obesity 2025 report published by Trust for America’s Health, long-term trends continue to show increasing rates of adult obesity across the country with Maine coming in at 32.6 percent of adult Mainers.
Obesity is generally measured by body mass index and is ranked by the Centers for Disease Control by class. For example, a person 5 feet 9 inches tall would be considered Class 1 obese if they weigh between 203 and 236 pounds and have a BMI of 30 to less than 35. Class 2 obesity would range from 237 to 270 pounds and a BMI from 35 to less than 40; and Class 3 obesity would be 271 pounds or more and a BMI of 40 or more.
In 2019, an earlier report by the Trust and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ranked Maine as the fattest state in New England, with adult obesity at 28 percent. In that report, researchers predicted that more than half of all adults in the state would be obese by 2030.
Today, Aroostook County adults have a 40 percent average obesity rate, higher than the state’s current 32 percent average, according to the countywide 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment.
This is the only bariatric ambulance north of Bangor, which prompted the emergency authority to apply for a grant through a Federal Emergency Management Agency program that assists firefighters, said Hiebert.
While primarily intended for service in the Southern Aroostook EMS area of operations, the vehicle will be available for bariatric transport needs throughout the County, he said. He added that the 911 dispatch is set up so that all ambulance services in the County know they have the bariatric ambulance and that it’s available.
“Our board of directors decided when we got started, we were going to do the most we could, particularly for the 10 communities we represent but for the entire area,” Hiebert said.
The Southern Aroostook emergency authority was created by an act passed in the 130th Maine legislative session. According to the act, members are directed to serve the residents of the towns of Amity, Hammond, Hodgdon, Linneus, Littleton, Ludlow, Merrill, Monticello and Smyrna as well as of seven unorganized territories.
A relatively new organization, it has 10 full-time paid staff and several part-timers, making about 850 service calls a year.
The ambulance was purchased from Autotronics in Bangor and will be available for use after staff training is complete.
