When technology is used in war, it is usually aimed at making weapons of mass destruction meant to end life. However, a new technology has been designed to protect human life on the battlefield.
RevMedx is an establishment in Oregon that employs scientists and war veterans, who try to come up with solutions to the ever-evolving problems on the battlefield. John Steinbaugh, an ex-special forces medic in the United States Army is one such employee. Steinbaugh says that the battlefield is fluid and there always seems to be a new kind of war during every tour. He adds that military medics are thus always coming back home to brief the other medics on the changes that has occurred on the front lines.
An example of such changing situations is wound packing, especially in an attempt to stop the bleeding after someone is hit with a bullet or shrapnel. These wounds are usually deep and sometimes it is hard to stop the bleeding. Steinbaugh and other RevMedx employees have thus come up with a new piece of technology that helps to dress wounds on the battleground. The technology, XSTAT, appears like a syringe that is full of small Sweet Tart Candies, only that they are not candies.
The idea of this life saving technology is borrowed from the working of a simple sponge, which increases in size by about 15 times when immersed in water. Steinbaugh says that the same compressed sponge technology was taken and placed into a couple of pellets. These pellets are then packed into one syringe to be used for wound packing in the field. When they encounter blood, they all expand simultaneously and the result is creation of an enormous amount of pressure. The pressure created helps to seal the wound in about 15 seconds.
According to the inventors of XSTAT, the seal is sufficient to keep someone alive until they receive medical attention. XSTAT is designed to be light such that it can be attached to the body armor without any problems. The United States Army has provided RevMedx a grant of $5 million, for RevMedx to develop a finished prototype of the technology. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also gave the establishment a grant by to create a version that will be used in stopping postpartum bleeding.
Apart from XSTAT, RevMedx has also developed Airwrap, another life-saving technology on the battlefield. Airwrap is a bandage that is equipped with an inflation device that exerts pressure on a wound, helping to stop bleeding.