A Matter of Life and Death

  by John Gagnon

Michigan Tech students have designed and developed a breakthrough in medical care that could save lives in a heartbeat. One inventive student group has devised a mattress that facilitates faster and more-effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); another bold group ventures to make the mattress a commercial product. The two groups address a longstanding and critical problem: a standard hospital mattress, with six or more inches of foam, is soft and pliable. Pushing down to administer CPR is like pushing on a big sponge—the force goes into the mattress and not the body.

The current approach to this dilemma is to use a rigid board, called a crash board, which requires rolling the patient over, sliding the board under the torso, repositioning the patient, and performing compressions against this more-firm structure. The procedure is slow, inconvenient, and inefficient.

Mike Neuman, chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, decided to put students to this task. A team of four, advised by Ryan Gilbert, assistant professor, came up with a simple solution: Push a button, suck the air out of the foam, and make it firm. A combination of some tubing, a little motor, and a vacuum pump does the job, which takes just ten seconds.

The measure of their success: with a standard mattress, only 43 percent of the CPR load is applied to the heart; with a crash board underneath, that jumps to 52 percent; and with the Tech students’ setup, that leaps to 81 percent.

Not only does the mattress make CPR faster and better, it also collapses the structure of the mattress so that the torso settles lower than the feet, which helps bring blood to the heart and brain. As well, it reduces the exertion and potential for injury on the part of the person administering CPR.

The students who fabricated the mattress won first place in 2007 in a campus exposition of engineering design projects. Chris Rivet, recalls the day. “We were showing it off,” he says, “when a lady came up to us. She was really excited because she was thinking about all the lives we would save.”

That eventuality is not far-fetched. The marketplace for this mattress could be huge. There are 5,700 hospitals in the US. That’s a lot of beds and a lot of mattresses, even if they’re only placed in critical-care units.

The work represents the University’s endeavor to commercialize technology, including innovations developed by students. The mattress initiative has produced interest.

“Their chances of commercial success are high,” says Jim Baker, director of Technology and Economic Development at Michigan Tech. “They have a product, a company, and a market. There are fewer unknowns in this effort than in other successful initiatives.”

One of the students trying to reach that market is Richard Goodell, a junior in scientific and technical communication. He is the point man for communications on this enterprise. He and four other students have demonstrated the mattress at regional hospitals and at Stryker Corporation, a leading medical-device manufacturer in Kalamazoo.

Goodell and other juniors and seniors comprise a multidisciplinary group representing marketing, business, engineering, and communications.

“We all have really strong wills, personalities, and work ethics,” Goodell reports. “We’ve argued and fought but got things done. The team dynamics just worked.”

Some of these students have given up co-ops, internships, and other enterprises to undertake this work. Why the sacrifice? “How often do you get to start your own business?” one asks.

Their goal is to partner with a large company like Stryker, where they demonstrated the mattress in July. They practiced many times for that opportunity. “We know our product,” Goodell says simply.

Enter good fortune. The students found an alumnus who works at Stryker: Doug Harris ’86, vice president for research and development, who helped organize the demonstration.

“They were enthusiastic,” Goodell says of Stryker. “They’re interested in working with us but aren’t entirely sure yet how this project fits in their plans.”

He and his colleagues ride a wave of hope and uncertainty with bated breath. Another prospect they are considering: going to market directly.

In the meantime, Goodell never envisioned such an experience: “I anticipated being a writer or editor, but not this. I never imagined I’d get this kind of opportunity.”

Helping keep him and his colleagues fixed on the goal are Baker and Jonathan Leinonen, program manager at the Michigan Tech Enterprise Corporation. Both men have come up with not only encouragement and direction, but also funding to keep the initiative alive. Baker and Leinonen are in the business of creating businesses that create jobs. They interviewed, recruited, and hired all of the students on the marketing team.

Baker adds, “They’re doing all the right things that companies do every day, and some of those companies fail and some of those companies succeed. Regardless of where this effort goes commercially, it’s a success because of the experience and progress the students have already realized.”

The students are a year ahead of schedule. Their progress doesn’t surprise Baker. “They’re bright. They’re diligent. They remain exceptionally focused on the core objective—how to get to the marketplace the quickest.”

That marketplace can be rigorous, and some things are beyond the students’ control as they eye commerce. But everybody involved is encouraged by the possibility that this product might be just what the doctor ordered. If so, Michigan Tech, the student inventors, and the student marketers—all would reap the financial reward. Michigan Tech’s share would be funneled right back into the effort to commercialize other innovative technologies.

It is said that the marketplace is the greatest test of truth. The truth is, Baker concludes, if this project were successful, “It would be a beautiful win.”

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