By Kerry McGinley
A new contract with member nonprofit Linden Resources is helping to save lives. The agency employing people with disabilities in Arlington, Virginia, recently partnered with Luna Innovations Incorporated in Roanoke, Virginia, to create a human blood simulant.
For first responders, knowing what to do and how to do it quickly is a matter of life or death. Proper training prepares them for split-second decisions and actions that save lives. They require models and products that accurately represent a human body in trauma.
"They can be pretty disgusting, quite frankly," said Michael Danilich, Ph.D. and director of research for the Technology Development Division of Luna. "There was no realistic way to train except with live animals."
Fake blood made from beet juice or a combination of water, corn syrup and red dye acted nothing like blood, Danilich said. And because new dressings with clotting agents developed by the military also changed the way real blood reacts, emergency professionals needed a product that exactly mimics human blood.
So Danilich and Luna Associate Scientist Brad Day developed the blood simulant TrueClot.
"We really got to work on getting the color right, the viscosity right, getting the clots to look right, then we added anti-microbial so it doesn’t get moldy," he said. "It’s got to be sticky as well as slippery because that’s the way blood is on your hands."
Based on feedback he heard from first responders he met at tradeshows and other events, they added one more bonus actual blood can’t offer.
"The other thing we heard over and over and over again was, ‘It has to wash out of my clothes. I’m sick and tired of having pink stains on my uniform,’" he said. "So we put in other additives to make it wash out easily. You can splatter white uniforms and wash it out."
Demand for the product has been high and is growing, Danilich said. Because Luna is a research and development company and not a manufacturing site, they needed to outsource the production of TrueClot. Through last year’s Warrior Expo Trade Show, they met SourceAmerica representatives who connected them with member nonprofits for bids. Linden Resources proved the best fit, Danilich said.
After visiting the company’s Charlottesville, Virginia, lab, Linden Resources Senior Vice President Bob Irwin realized the potential for a whole new way to employ people with disabilities, he said.
"It was clear this was something we could do," Irwin said. "We are utilizing folks with other abilities, and they are highly successful at doing this type of work because it requires a high-quality employee and it also requires repetitiveness. These are the areas where our folks with disabilities excel."
A small space at Linden was fitted with the necessary pieces of equipment to create and package the product. Irwin secured a specialized compressor to keep the noise down as his employees began crafting TrueClot July 1.
Even with limited marketing, the demand for the product is growing, Danilich said.
"The growth has been almost entirely by word of mouth in the first responder community," he said. "There are a lot of companies that train first responders. There are a lot of former military that have assimilated into civilian ranks and they’re bringing what they’ve learned in terms of first aid and medical first response into the civilian community."
Irwin also sees potential to expand their services to Luna as their production needs increase.
"If you think about it, there is an array of EMT facilities across the United States that have a need for this," Irwin said. "That’s kind of their first push."