n. a rigid body-sized platform in which a stretcher or litter can be secured for transporting patients, usually in precarious environments. Also Stokes stretcher, Stokes litter, Stokes.Subjects:
English, Medical, Jargon
Citations:
1909Washington Post (July 16) “His Grit Saves Read” p. 5: When he was taken out under the trees on the Stokes stretcher he tried to promote a setto between the two young marines at which should have the lighter end to carry. 1941Sheboygan Press (Wisc.) (Sept. 8) “Liner Iroquois Now Hospital Ship” p. 4: The former liner Iroquois…is now being refitted as the Navy’s first hospital ship since World War I, bearing the name U.S.S. Solace. Injured men are brought aboard the vessel in Stokes basket. 1988 Dennis Smith Firefighters: Their Lives in Their Own Words (July 1) p. 156: They got the Stokes basket down there, a kind of wire basket moulded to the shape of the body, and they floated me on that, then lifted me up and out. 2005 Mindy Blake KOLD-TV (Tucson, Ariz.) (May 3) “Man Suffers Severe Tar Burns”: They attached what’s called a stokes basket to the ladder, and using control ropes above and below, they lowered Gamez to the ground.