COOLING VEST SAVES FIVE LIVES DURING THE UAE’S LONG HOT SUMMER
▶ High-tech garment could soon be standard in 90 Dubai ambulances
A garment with the ability to reduce core body temperature proved its worth by saving the lives of five workers in Dubai this summer.
The core body cooling vest (CAERvest) was used to treat the workers who suffered heatstroke at two construction sites in July and August.
The vest’s ability to lower body temperatures from 42°C to 37°C within half an hour piqued the interest of Dubai Corporation of Ambulance Services. It plans to equip 90 ambulances with the vests, according to Dr Omar Al Sakaf, director of technical and medical affairs.
Dr Al Sakaf said the “life-saving device” cuts time spent waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
“We saved about five lives from heat exhaustion. Previously, I had to call an ambulance and wait and spend time on treatment,” he said.
“But this was present on the spot and on time, and the patient recovered within hours. Previously, they had to stay at the hospital from one to three days, depending on the severity of the heatstroke.”
He said the vest could also be used at beaches and pools and could be of benefit to firefighters.
The tubed vest does not require pre-cooling or charging. Once squeezed, a red torch-shaped device releases a fluid throughout the hampers of the vest, said Jonathan Weinberg, CAERvest’s commercial director.
The fluid starts an endothermic chemical reaction that makes the liquid freeze.
“You lay it on the chest of the patient and it sucks out 1,000 calories worth of heat,” he said.
The mixing of the chemicals means the vest can only be used once but, Dr Al Sakaf said, the £500 (Dh2,418) price tag is worth the cost if it saves a human life.
The use of the vest eliminates, or significantly reduces, the need to admit a heatstroke patient to hospital, thus cutting cost.
“All we know is that all heatstroke patients who were treated with CAERvest required no further treatment,” Mr Weinberg said.
Mr Weinberg’s team created the vest by accident in the UK.
“We were developing a completely different device for cardiac arrest and we accidentally discovered the treatment for heatstroke,” he said.
They began producing the product on a small scale in 2013, but after winning Pitch@ Palace UK, they expanded the company and now distribute several thousand vests around the world.
“It is now available at construction sites in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United States, Australia and Singapore.”
The vest will soon be introduced to ambulances in Abu Dhabi, as well as among the presidential guard, Mr Weinberg said.
CAERvest saved its first life at the London Marathon in 2015.
“A patient collapsed with body temperature of 42.1°C – fatal – and we cooled him to a safe 37°C in just over half an hour, and he made a full recovery,” Mr Weinberg said.
The vest was tested further during Hajj when employed by Saudi Arabia’s health ministry.
Dr Al Sakaf said the vest was easy to use and required less upkeep than other devices, which he said were “ice cubes packed in different ways”.
“It is my vision to make CAERvest available to all health-and-safety operatives in the GCC to ensure maximum protection of workers, soldiers, police and civil defence personnel who work outside in the extreme heat,” said Mr Weinberg, who was in the UAE this week to mentor prospective entrepreneurs taking part in the UAE’s Pitch@Palace boot camp in Abu Dhabi. On Wednesday, the competition’s founder, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, announced three winners who will take their ideas to London in December to make their pitches before Queen Elizabeth.