An advanced protective suit developed at Johns Hopkins University is one of five awardees in a federal funding contest aimed at devising new tools to combat Ebola.
The Johns Hopkins University prototype is designed to do a better job than current garments in keeping health care workers from coming in contact with Ebola patients’ contagious body fluids, both during treatment and while removing a soiled suit. In addition, it is expected to keep the wearer cooler.
The first projects selected for the federal funding were announced on December 12 by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through its new program, launched in October, called Fighting Ebola: A Grand Challenge for Development.
The improved protective suit is being developed by a team of engineers, medical experts, students and other volunteers under the supervision of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID) and Jhpiego, a non-profit Johns Hopkins affiliate that focuses on international health programs.
‘If ever there was a public health crisis that merits the finest science, medicine and innovation the world has to offer, it is this one,’ Leslie Mancuso, Jhpiego president and CEO said in a statement. ‘The personal protection suit we are developing with our partners at the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design is purposefully designed to address safety and climate issues now putting health workers at risk.’
Some of these enhancements include a large clear visor in the hood, which is integrated into the suit; air vents in the hood; a rear zipper to reduce infection risks while removing the garment; a cocoon-style doffing process that requires far fewer steps than existing garments; and a small battery-powered, dry air source to cool the user by blowing air into the hood.
The cooling technology used in the garment was originally developed for cooling patients in cardiac arrest by Johns Hopkins cardiologist Harikrishna Tandri.
With the basic improvements identified, a small group of core of team members, supervised by CBID and Jhpiego, will proceed to fine-tune the prototype protective suit, with a goal of getting some elements of the design ready for mass production perhaps as early as April 2015.
I am a lone inventor and submitted a revolutionary new Ebola suit design to the USAID group about the same time the John Hopkins University applied. Unlike all the brilliant minds pushing on “improvements” to the existing design, time will tell how my design is in comparison when they are both deployed in the field. With this said, I have decided to focus on the next big issue facing us.
Problem;
What do you do with someone suspected of having Ebola like Thomas Eric Duncan did when he first walked into that in that Texas hospital. This is becoming known as the “Emergency Preparedness” issue.
Current process it suggested to escort a sick person into an unoccupied room until help arrives. In the meantime, everything in that room will become contaminated waste, not to mention if there are more than one sick person walking into the clinic and no more unoccupied rooms available.
Solution;
Make a suit designed to put on each patient to contain them safely and comfortably until they can be admitted to a certified facility. I have taken my dynamically designed Ebola suit which was created for the healthcare worker and added a few changes to adapt it to be utilized as a “Patient Isolation” (PI) suit! It’s a three piece suit to be donned quickly on the sick person and contain them safely “for hours” which includes the transporting in an isolation state safely.
I have photos of the “two piece” level4suit™ prototype suit designed for the healthcare works at http://www.level4suit.com and illustrations for this new Level4suit™ PI design on my website, found by clicking on the “Downloadable Documents” title then on “Personal Isolation Suit”
I do not have a master’s degree but think you’ll agree, this suit is simple and makes sense.