31 March 2020: For a speedy rescue of patients with medical emergency, DRF Luftrettung has come up with isolation stretchers called 'EpiShuttles'. Two HEMS bases will be equipped with these stretchers in the initial stage. A further eight HEMS bases will soon follow suit.
DRF Luftrettung, A German helicopter company is able to connect patients to an intensive respiratory device and fly them quickly to a hospital with a free ventilator bed. However, transporting corona-infected persons puts crews at great risk, as space is tight inside the helicopters. The pilot, emergency paramedics and doctors are in direct contact with the patients and are exposed to the threat of infection.
Hence, due to these stretchers the need of time-consuming disinfection of helicopters after missions with corona-infected patients will no longer be necessary.
Today, more and more people need fast access to intensive-care beds with ventilators but are at present transported predominantly by road, which costs time and can put lives at risk. Hence Epishuttles are the need of the hour.
Benefits of Epishuttles:
-Saves valuable time while offering optimum protection.
-The HEMS bases will be ready for action more quickly.
"The innovative 'EpiShuttles' enable patients to be transported as if in an intensive care unit. The person lies under a transparent cover and can be connected to an intensive respiratory device via air-tight access points while being monitored and treated at the same time. In this way, we can fly well-monitored patients quickly and safely to hospitals with free ventilator-equipped intensive-care beds, while our crews are protected from infection even better than before and can continue their life-saving operations," explained the medical director of DRF Luftrettung, Dr. Jrg Braun.
An "EpiShuttle" currently costs about 40,000 euros. "DRF Luftrettung has decided to make this important investment in the lives and safety of patients and crews and would highly welcome any support from donors and sponsors for this urgent measure. In these times, in which every minute counts all the more, we want to do everything in our power to be there for people in need," said Dr. Krystian Pracz, chairman of the executive board at DRF Luftrettung, about this exceptional investment.
Thanks to the 'EpiShuttles' DRF Luftrettung will be able to protect its crews and patients much more easily and effectively, and thus remain fully operational in the times ahead.