ow paramedics and others

i am curious. before wls, i had a hard time moving furniture (which i had to do when i worked with my ex).  it slowed us down some and i felt like crap at the end of the day. when i see overweight nurses, paramedics and others who need to be fast and furious to save lives, i wonder how there weight effects there job.
should overweight medical personnel like paramedics, be placed on lighter duty or terminated until they lose weight or have wls?
do you think that weight effects job performance and duty?
kim

Hi, just a quick note on the question of obese professionals and thier jobs...as long as they can pull thier own weight, do thier job, and be professional, what does it matter?  Why should they be put on lighter duty and others have to pick up the ends?  Not fair to anyone.  I have no problems with people like us doing a good job, my hats off to them.  I think one of the reasons we have weight problems is that we are always doing for others, and not for ourselves. We are givers, not takers, we care about other people.  We don't put ourselves first, which maybe we should as far as our health goes.  Anyway, that is my story and I am sticking to it.  have a great New year! farmgirl58

Certainly not. If they were placed on lighter duty or terminated, then it would all boil down to a bunch of lawsuits based upon discrimination. Let them do their job. That's what they are trained for. Many companies these days do evaluations or job performance surveys based upon that individual. Let the evaluations prove if they are doing their job correctly or not. If that overweight individual has a hard time lifting and/or walking/running distances, then hopefully common sense would tell them "hey, I need to lose some weight so my job duties wouldn't be so hard to do." Every individual is different, so they handle situations differently. Depending on what type of job you have, depends on if weight was/is an issue. I have a desk job and I'm on the computer 98% of the time and very rarely had to go walking long distances. But, for a Secretary that had a desk job but has to do more walking (to get mail, make copies, etc) being overweight may be more of an issue for her. Just my two cents worth...

Karine