Latest / The JEMS Report / Military-Inspired Multi-T Dressing Moves Toward Civilian EMS Use
Transcript
- Nat Kapustin: Everybody, welcome to the Gems Product Podcast. I have been particularly excited about this podcast and ⁓ it's covering a product that I'm personally super excited about. ⁓ that is the multi tee. And I want you to get to know a good friend of mine, Jim. I'm gonna let him introduce himself and we're gonna talk about ⁓ this this great product. Yeah, hello hello. Yeah, Jim McGuire here, the founder of EntraTech Incorporated. We're a material science products company that's in the industrial space and the medical space. And we have a real we have a real 20-year passion for combat tactical casualty care. And, you know, we put a lot of energy into developing very unique products for the tier one warfighting community that we're now pushing out in the civilian market, and we're super excited about that. Yeah, I and I'm honestly I couldn't be happier to see it coming out in the ⁓ in the civilian market. ⁓ you know, personally, ever since I've put my hands on one, I've pretty much carried one about everywhere that I go because I think that there's a tremendous amount of utility in it. So ⁓ I'm holding a multi-T right here so people can see how ⁓ how small this is. But before we kind of open this up and and talk about just some of the things that it's capable of. Can you tell me how ⁓ talk me through a little bit of the development of this, how how this product ⁓ made its way to my hands? So, you know, it's it's really a journey that we've had. You know, we I was, we started the company in 2000, and 2001, 9-11 happened. One of the other gentlemen at the ⁓ in the incubator at Ohio State University ⁓ with me, Dave Callard. ⁓ we really wanted to see how we could help. And him being a former Navy SEAL, we had a personal friend who was in ⁓ SEAL team six. We went down and spoke to them and said, Hey, you know, we're we're looking for any way we can help you with with your job and be more effective. And one of the things that came up to us was they had trouble starting an IV in the dark. So the first product that we came up with that was commercialized was a product called Battle View. That allows ⁓ a medic with his night vision goggles to visualize a vein and a needle to start an IV. So that started this journey. That was a that was like a one-year development deployment. And it's been out there in the battle space for, you know, for a long time. ⁓ very effective product, patented product. ⁓ that led to the second opportunity. ⁓ the guys at SEAL Team Six sent us down to Fort Bragg, and we met with the gentlemen that were ⁓ commercializing combat gauze. ⁓ into the battle space. And one of the things they needed was an advanced compression dressing because the ace wrap just wasn't sufficient. So we put a we put a lot of thought and energy into that. And we were able to come up with a product which many of you have heard of. It's called Battle Wrap. And that was the first clear patented compression dressing ⁓ in in the battle space. And what's really cool now is across all SOCOM units is completely replaced the ACE bandage. And you know, one of the cool things, ⁓ we got a big order for it some years ago, and I had a gentleman in my office from 3M who makes the Ace Rap. And he said, you need to put this in context. It's the first time in history a war fighter is going into combat with a compression dressing that's not based on a textile. Kind of a step change. And we've sold nearly a million of those units so far. So it's been great to make an impact with that. The follow-on product, it's a longer story. Follow-on product was the Sentinel chess seal. That was the world's first ⁓ dual vent chess seal. ⁓ we created that product, ⁓ commercialized it. And it was, I think it was five or six years ago, ISR did a did research on all of the chess seals used in the battle space, and there was eight of them. And net net, only two functioned. properly ours and somebody else's that copied our design. So that was kind of cool. And we don't really care because we're we didn't get into this to create a business. We have another business area. This is how do we help our warfighters? And so, you know, as we kept moving down this pathway, we were instrumental in the commercialization of the croc, ⁓ you know, junction alterniquet. We've worked on it multiple other products. But the coolest was I got a call from a gentleman that was going Downrange undercover. ⁓ and I I didn't know before I met him that guys like Jason Bourne actually exist. And ⁓ I thought that was really cool. But he said, ⁓ he said, I need a tourniquet that doesn't look like a tourniquet. IE in his world is called low visibility. So put a lot of thought into it. We had a lot of lessons learned from battle rap. We knew a lot about, you know, obviously we were basic in this science. And we created a completely new film structure, adhesive, everything else, and created a tourniquet ⁓ that can do many other things. And that ⁓ and that's how we got to ⁓ we created that product. We couldn't sell it to anybody else in the military because they were very happy with their cat tourniquet. And we kind of sat on our shelf and we just kept giving them away. And again, this was not not to make money. This was to get product out there and save lives and make an impact. Pay forward. And full disclosure, I'm the son of a my dad was in the 82nd Airborne. I never served. I regret it every single day. So I'm trying to pay forward another way. And so as we sat there and had it out, and we, you know, this product has been around for over like 15 years. ⁓ there was a meeting in Columbus with a SEAL, ⁓ Navy SEAL ⁓ SEAL kids meeting here. And Dutch Van Horn, who retired as Command Master Chief of Gold Squadron at SEAL Team Six, was here, personal friend for a long time. Came to the office. We were talking about the product. And he started getting very passionate that we had to get this out in the civilian market. And I'm like, why? I didn't quite understand. He said, We just finished up, Doc Cons and I just finished up doing active shooter training with ADP corporate headquarters. And when we did the ⁓ exercise in the afternoon of actually having the students use a cat tourniquet, there was zero percent success rate. and our product is intuitive. In fact, children, we have videos of children applying this to adults, children applying it to each other. It's very simple. So that started the journey of we had to dig deeper and how do we get in the civilian markets? You've got to get FDA clearance. ⁓ and that was cool because then you we had to do a clinical study to get FDA clearance. And because of our connections, we were able to use the labs at Wake Forest University, the SOCOM was where they were developed for SOCOM. So we were able to validate the product on fresh cadavers ⁓ under you know rigorous controlled conditions. And the really ⁓ amazing thing we can't we found out in that study, and we published it. In Journal of Special Operations Medicine, JSON, you guys should all read that sometimes. A great journal. ⁓ we were able to ⁓ to occlude the femoral artery at 40% lower pressure than the cat tourniquet. And so that's a, you know, that's to me is an exponential improvement. So pretty excited. We got FDA clearance and we've been out there hitting the trade shows is where we met Mike and just doing everything we can to get it out into space. That's where we are. Yeah, I and I honestly I can't thank you enough for the the work that you've done. I appreciate ⁓ I appreciate everything. And ⁓ as I said, I've I've ever since I saw one of these for the first time, I have carried one with me. So ⁓ we'll just kind of talk through this a little bit. ⁓ if anybody isn't familiar with them. So I I removed it from the from the box that it comes in. And this is ⁓ this is essentially just a very strong tape. Right. If if we're just using simple layman's terms. ⁓ so it has a tab here at the here at the beginning so that it it's really easy for me to get started with this, ⁓ with this multi-T. ⁓ I've got one right here. This is a partial that I've been I've been carrying this in my flight suit for a while. ⁓ and what I do, ⁓ just like any other piece of tape is ⁓ once I've torn it off, I bend the end over, and now that gives me a similar spot where I can start the ⁓ start the tape. So where this is unique is that when you when you pull this and it's it's crazy once you experience it, it actually recoils as you as you let it go. So it has a it has a a constricting force ⁓ as it's as it's tightened around the limb. And the thing that I like about it the most is So if I had gloves on, I know this is somebody's gonna call me out for not having gloves on, but if I had gloves on, this wouldn't stick to my gloves. It doesn't stick to my skin, it doesn't stick to clothing. but the nice thing is, all I've got to do is get a little bit of that started. And once it gets on itself, it's gonna stick really well. So now that I have it on itself, I can pull this nice and hard. And usually within a couple wraps I can get complete occlusions. So right there, I've already lost radial pulse. And that was ⁓ two and a half times around my two and a half times around my forearm. So you can see it there nice and wide. So it's also not a not a narrow tourniquet, ⁓ because that's something that I also want to avoid, right? And the other great thing about this is right where I have that against my against my arm, I can just take my thumb and push that through and tear it off. And now I can keep on moving. ⁓ I've done tons of demos of these. ⁓ we did a bunch of demos at this past year's FDIC. I was getting 10 to 12 tourniquets out of a a roll of ⁓ of the of the multi tee. I will also tell you this is probably one of the more comfortable tourniquets I've ever worn. I'll leave it on for a little bit. It's not gonna ⁓ not gonna bother me too much, but ⁓ as I said, this is the partial roll that's been in my flight suit for a little while now, and I've used it for all kinds of things. ⁓ you know, not just as a pressure dressing, but it can also be utilized as as I have here as a tourniquet. I use it as a pressure dressing. I've secured I like ⁓ a loose wrap around an IV site to secure it. A lot of different ⁓ a lot of different things that you can ⁓ that you can utilize this for. So yeah, super impressed with the product, Jim. Very, very happy with it. ⁓ you can even see a ⁓ when you when you look at it ⁓ through the tape, you see a little multi-t printed printed printed across the tape. But it is ⁓ it is amazing. So for anybody wanting the specs on it, it's four inches wide, 156 inches long. wonderful. And the, you know, the yeah, the 156, the the background behind that. is we we wanted to create a singular product that could could save a guy who stepped on a pressure plate where you lose both legs and the forward arm and you know big guy. And so there's enough material on there. But just imagine if you're in a mass casualty in a school situation. And you know, it's just like you can go from one to the other. And I love your comment on the gloves because we were on a we were Dutch, my you know, the the CMC from SEAL team six. We were on a we were on a discussion with a paramedic, and Dutch was explaining how you can go from casualty to casualty to casualty. And ⁓ you know, and the guy said, I forget what he said, he was very serious. He said, Well, you're gonna get cross-contamination. And then Dutch was like really quiet, and he goes, I'll bet you had your gloves on too. And the guy goes, ⁓ all the time. And then Dutch goes, Have you ever been in a mass casualty? Right. Just like and then it was just silence. Yeah. How many how many glove changes do you think happened in a mass cash? Zero. And real quick before before I take this off, I'll show show everybody watching the the difference in in my hands. So you can see that this and as I said, this is this is only about two and a half times around my around my arm. So this is very clearly occluding arterial and venous flow. ⁓ yeah, no again, no radial pulse. You can see by the color differences in my hands that this is in fact a very effective, a very effective tourniquet. The other thing that I like, and and I'll just kind of throw this out there for everybody watching. ⁓ let's say I had that arterial hemorrhage right here and I want to get really quick ⁓ slowing the that flow of blood, I can start a pressure wrap right there. And the nice thing about the the length of this is I can then wrap further up the up the arm and tourniquet higher up the arm. Now I can easily when I need to, if I'm looking at longer term care, if I need to convert that to just a pressure dressing, I want to take the tourniquet down, I can unwrap a little bit of the top and start to get some of that flow back without removing the pressure dressing that I apply. So I I mean there's just limitless uses to this. ⁓ can be applied underwater, right, Jim? I mean I and I we've d we've ⁓ you know at this past year at FDIC we had a bunch of simulated blood and we're just dumping it all over ⁓ while people were applying these ⁓ these tourniquets. I can tell you right now they do not lose a bit of their adhesive property even when even when wet with with blood. Sweat, whatever, you know, whatever it whatever would be. So I think you also did a junctional tourniquet with one, didn't you? I'd never seen that before. That was cool. Yeah. And that's something that I ri that I love this for is it it's a it's an amazing pressure dressing. but also definitely you could get a ⁓ junctional tourniquet if you're at the, you know, especially if you've like maybe you've packed a junctional wound. and you're at the ⁓ level of the greater trochanters, if you wrap that pelvis, you've effectively now also bound the pelvis. So there's a lot of there's a lot of different uses ⁓ for this product, well outside of just being utilized as a tourniquet. So yeah, I I like I said I I couldn't be ⁓ couldn't be happier with it. ⁓ anything ⁓ anything you want to add about its functionality or how it how it works? Well, I think I think some of the cool things that I've heard with guys using it is obviously, well, you just said it basically pelvis stabilization on a fracture situation. You know, we've had, you know, ⁓ tape the head to a head to a blo a piece of wood, whatever stabilized cervical. You know, sim you can do an improvised chest seal with, you know, basically a card and wrap it around. ⁓ you know, you can actually, you know, this this can be important is ⁓ You know, you you can actually cover somebody's mouth if you have if somebody's making noise in a situation you don't want them make noise. So you can restrain people. And unlike zip ties, people won't be able to get out of it. Our civilian folks might not have as much use for that. But there's all kinds of, you know, these opportunities to get creative with the product and you know and see what it can do. So we're looking forward to learning more about what can what it's capable of. No, I I really appreciate you sharing the ⁓ the coming out with the product and then now sharing it with the with the civilian market. Yeah, we're really, we're really excited to see how everybody, I mean, when we started these trade shows, we didn't know we had no idea what sort of response we would get. And the response has been absolutely overwhelming. You know, the minute you show it to somebody, they're like, wow. And that's, you know, it's and simple, you know, to me, when you have something that looks simple but solves a complex problem. That is to me is a is really, really amazing. So Jim, ⁓ one of the one kind of one of the only issues that I've brought up with the with the multi-T is that I'd really like to see a clear version. So coming from using the using the battle rap and ⁓ having a desire to still be able to visualize and assess the wound and what's happening beneath it. ⁓ I've really been wanting a clear version of this. You have any updates on that? Yeah, I think I think that's we've heard that over and over and over again from the first show outward. And recall the the reason we did it in black was it was supposed to look like a stupid roll of electrical tape if you're you know you're pull you know, you're if you're undercover. But we've been putting a lot of energy into creating a clear version. And we we plan to introduce at EMS world. And this is essentially what it's going to look like where you can see through it. It still have the branding on it, but you know, still have the same functional performance of it. This is just a map piece of a master sheet, but really excited to transition this over to the clear branded product. It has a lot of uses. And then the black product will still be it's going to be rebranded as is low Viz TQ for the guys that need it for downrange. ⁓ and then, you know, so I think the clear is going to make life a lot easier. And to be fair, the one of the other reasons I started with the clear was I got a really bad inside the heel cut in my kitchen from broken glass. And it was like I got to go to the ER. I'm like, I don't have time. So I wrapped it up with with the ⁓ multi T and the next day it was swollen and I'm like, ⁓ shit, it's full of blood. And so I got all ready to change the dressing. And you know, and when I took it off, there was no blood. It was just the swelling. Just swollen. And I'm like, well, if I had a clear dressing, I would have known it wasn't full of blood. So that's another another opportunity. There you go. Well, I ⁓ I hope you bring a truckload of these things to Orlando because you're I got a feeling. Yeah, I got a feeling they're gonna be ⁓ they're gonna be pretty popular. ⁓ exciting, great. Yeah, I'm I'm excited for you. And again, thank you so much. Thank you. yeah, absolutely. I'll ⁓ I'll just pop it over to you for any closing thoughts that you might have or anything else you wanted to ⁓ you wanted to share with the audience. I think we're just we're really excited to be in the civilian market now and help where we can help. I mean, this is like, you know, it's you can do a lot of things in life. And ⁓ some are some are pretty straightforward, mundane, and some are really ⁓ impactful to yourselves personally and the team to be able to help help you guys and to help save lives. First responders. So anything we can do to help you guys. And in the future, I think as we get into this and get dig dig deeper into it, we're going to be able to create other new products to solve other problems that we didn't know existed until we met, you know, guys like you. So excited to be here now. Yeah. That's so awesome. Thank you, Jim. I appreciate everything you do. Yeah, we and you know, we've talked a lot about ⁓ you know trauma resuscitation in the last few months and there have been a lot of really, really exciting developments, especially over the past year or so with pre hospital blood programs. But what you've got to remember, we got to stop that bleeding. Exactly. ⁓ that's that's step number one. So I think you guys are you you're doing some great things in the space. So hats off to you and thank you so much for what you do. Appreciate it. Sam. Thank you. Have a great day. Okay. Take care. See ya. Bye.