Well wishes and the product of the week...

Since our last blog post we have seen the dawn of a new year and we at Austere Provisions Company would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and healthy and fruitful 2010. Onto the product of the week.

Is it sticky?

Yeah, it's STICKY. What am I talking about? The Bolin Chest Seal. I get this question a lot and there is some background to it. In 2005 at the Special Operations Medical Association conference, held annually in Tampa, Florida, numerous times it was mentioned by operators that current chest seals were not staying in place when applied to bloody, sweaty, and dirty patients on the current battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. When those complaints came out a number of people in the medical industry were listening, one of those people was Bob Harder of H&H Associates. H&H looked at the current options available and hit the drawing board to design a product that would effectively vent air and blood from open chest wounds without clogging or clotting the valve(s) and stay in place during extended field evacuation situations.

So what does the solution look like? Like this:

From Product Releases

Info from H&H:

Sucking chest wounds require an emergency first aid solution that is fast, direct, and effective: the Bolin Chest Seal (BCS) is specifically engineered to meet these critical needs.

The BCS is a sterile occlusive chest wound dressing for treating open pneumothorax and preventing tension pneumothorax that result from gunshots, stab wounds, or other penetrating chest trauma. The patented failure-proof triple-valve design of the BCS allows air and blood to escape while preventing the re-entry of either, thereby eliminating any unwanted gas or liquid exchange at the trauma site.

The large (6” diameter), rugged polyurethane disc structure of the BCS can cover practically any size chest trauma site. The thickness of the disc prevents any disc wrinkling from occurring during application. In addition, the wound side of the disc is covered with a thick layer of jell-based adhesive, strong enough to not only seal over hair and blood but also flexible enough to be removed and reapplied to the trauma site if required. These critical characteristics of the BCS to prevent the occurrence of tension can be accomplished quickly, directly, and effectively.

So, back to the original question: Is it sticky enough? Yeah, it is. The "jell-based adhesive" is very similar to an adhesive called Hydrogel which is used by breachers where the charge has to stick, every time no matter what. Hydrogel is purposely designed to stick to irregular surfaces that are wet which is why it was selected for use in the Bolin Chest Seal.

Now all this information is great but how do we know if it actually works? The failure of chest seals in the past became enough of an issue that The Naval Medical Research Center decided to test the original Asherman Chest Seal and the Bolin Chest Seal to determine capabilities through live tissue training.

PDF of report HERE

Quoted Conclusion Paragraph from report:

"CONCLUSION
We have developed a standardized spontaneously breathing open pneumothorax swine model. Device testing in this model relied on hemodynamic changes that were easily monitored. The Asherman and Bolin chest seal valves have similar effectiveness in evacuating intrathoracic air, but the Bolin seal offers superior adhesive properties."


If you are looking for a reliable and durable solution for treating open chest wounds you will find a solution in the Bolin Chest Seal. Now available at Austere Provisions Company.

Bolin Chest Seal at Austere Provisions Company

Thanks for looking and check back next week. We are expecting some new items this week.

Mike