MIAMI, USA – As concern over the potential transmission of the coronavirus COVID-19 to healthcare workers treating afflicted patients continues to rise, industry expert Radiation Shield Technologies is issuing a call-to-action to ensure healthcare workers have access to the necessary personal-protection gear.
“It is critical for healthcare workers fighting this deadly virus to ensure they have the proper protection and deploy the most advanced gear that provides the greatest safety,” said Ronald F. DeMeo, M.D., the surgeon who invented the patented Demron and Demron Ice lightweight protective gear that are currently deployed worldwide by every branch of the US military, US CST teams, the FDNY, IAEC, DSTA, NASA, and many international first responder and military teams.
“Reports of transmission of the deadly virus to healthcare workers, coupled with a growing awareness of the fact that the virus can travel through standard medical face masks and infect the users, is helping fuel an international search for better personal-protection solutions,” Dr DeMeo added. “The Demron full-body gear provides a level of protection that cannot be found anywhere else. In addition to ASTM certification for viral protection, Demron is distinguished as the only gear enabling thermal imaging for body temperature.”
In 2011, Dr DeMeo received global news attention when he recognized that emergency workers in Japan were not protecting themselves properly while containing the country’s worst nuclear crisis since 1945. His Miami-based company then stepped forward and delivered the Demron full-body nuclear radiation protection suits to aid power plant workers and rescue teams. Similarly, he is now recognizing opportunities to better handle the coronavirus outbreak.
Already, in the past few weeks alone, Radiation Shield Technologies has reported a growing interest from the region in the Demron Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) suits, with more than 50,000 sales orders from China and 4,000 sales orders from Turkey.
In addition to face masks that provide the highest level of protection against disease transmission, the Demron suits have patented thermal conductive capabilities that enable health-care workers suits to be externally monitored for the onset of fever, one of the first signs of the disease.
Additionally, infected patients can also be monitored and externally cooled when infection transportation chambers are lined with the Demron fabric. Ongoing testing in this area is being carried out by Dipl. Eng. Pavel Castulik, Ph.D., at the Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, Czech Republic.
Demron, manufactured solely by RST, is the world’s first and only CBRN fabric that provides chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear protection, while also enabling external temperature monitoring.
Demron’s ability to permit the release and dissipation of heat makes external temperature management and monitoring possible. Infrared thermometers designed for non-contact temperature sensing can establish the base operational temperature of each health-care worker wearing a protective suit. Then, health-care professionals can randomly take external temperature readings to help to ensure the early detection of fever symptoms. The ability to capture non-contact temperature readings outside of the suits provides meaningful protection for caregivers as they monitor and transport patients.
For more than 20 years, RST has pioneered high-performance, multi-hazard fabrics employing Demron for military, firefighters, law enforcement and medical personnel. Demron combines the metallic properties of gamma radiation reduction, trauma reduction and thermal conductivity with advanced nano polymer technology, and is uniquely capable of providing true anti-nuclear protection and heat stress reduction without compromising chemical or biological hazard protection.