STBC is the first Covid-19 ambulance transport system that can be reclined, allowing patients to breathe more easily. The idea, born in Ferno Italia, was perfected thanks to rescuers.
BOLOGNA (Italy) – The Covid-19 pandemic has forced rescuers to experience truly terrible conditions of danger and discomfort. The STBC project by Ferno srl, a company based in the province of Bologna that designs and sells medical equipment worldwide, was born from the collection of the needs of volunteers who transport and treat sick patients in ambulances throughout Italy. The determination of Italian engineers has provided a first device that solves the problems of transporting bilateral pneumonia patients for SARS-COVID-19. The stretcher designed in Italy reduces the discomfort suffered by rescuers and the risks of cross-contamination, i.e., the possibility of catching COVID-19 during an ambulance transport due to inadequate sanitation.
The biocontainment designed for fragile patients
Today, all commercial biocontainment systems are adaptations of instruments used in air transport or tactical-military situations. STBC was built from the ground up for transportation in civilian ambulances, where patients are often elderly and have more difficulty breathing in a lying position. “We overcame many difficulties and did hundreds of certification tests before reaching the perfection we were looking for,” says Enrico Carletti, CEO of Ferno Italia. “We started from the fact that the patient with pulmonary problems needs to be transported in a semi-sitting position. No anti-covid stretcher allows this, safely. However, we couldn’t forget safety, so we thought of a semi-rigid structure: after passing all the crash-tests, we decided to launch the product on the world market”.
Maximum safety for rescuers, the first actors of the system to be protected
“The goal we never forget – continues Carletti – is the protection of rescuers, which is why we are proud of our devices. STBC is effective for hours, allows four operators to operate on the patient simultaneously, has been built with the best possible materials, and most importantly, can be unhooked from the stretcher and brought to the ER in seconds, freeing up the ambulance for other emergency services. We thought creating an interchangeable system was the only way to help healthcare providers reduce the ambulance queues we have become accustomed to seeing every day on TV. Today, a covid patient cannot be left waiting except in an ambulance, exposing too many people to so much risk. With STBC, we hope to make an effective contribution to the fight against this virus, to make the daily life of all rescuers more normal”. STBC is also the first Italian anti-covid stretcher sold globally and has already received orders from Australia, Japan, and the United States.
