(Training session with North Shore Rescue)
Since the 1970s, Med Tech Tech Sweden has been manufacturing innovative vacuum spine boards and splints as an alternative to traditional options for first responders.
Med Tech is known for their Vacuum Spine Boards (VSBs) that offer quick, comfortable and easy full-body immobilization for suspected spine, pelvic, or hip fractures and multiple fracture patients.
Behind each product is a well-though-out and practical design made from high quality materials and designed to last. All products have a lifetime warranty (with expected lifetime of 10 to 15 years) with repair kits available to prolong the life of the product. This is just one of the features we love about their products.
The Founder of Med Tech Sweden and product designer is Bo Renberg. We had a chance to ask him a few questions about his products and company.
How long have you been making VSBs?
I have been doing this vacuum splinting technology for over 50 years.
How did you get started? What got you interested in making VSBs and other First Responder equipment?
After my education in the Swedish Air Force, I started in the beginning of 1970s as a fire fighter and EMT.
Working in the field, I recognized that there were not any products available on the market for us to take care of broken extremities and multi fractured patients. I started to developed vacuum mattresses and vacuum pillows.
I have invented and developed a lot of different vacuum splint during the years. My latest patented invention is the Vacuum Spine Board (VSB). The Swedish patent was granted in 2003 and then in the following years after that about 25 other countries were granted the patent.
This new generation of vacuum mattresses is called Vacuum Spine Board because it is a hybrid between the old vacuum mattress and the spine board. It is the most compact and lightest “vacuum mattress” in the world and has from 13 to 26 patented inner channels, depending on the size.
What makes your VSBs different or unique?
The VSB is unique because it is made of a special design Polyurethane, more durable than PVC or Vinyl. Inside uses a new kind of beads that took me almost 10 years to develop that have a fantastic memory which always keeps them in the shape they should be in. All of our vacuum splints are totally heat sealed. There is no sewing work that the old vacuum mattresses required. Only the handles, straps and bags are sewed. My new patent for the inner channels make it easy to manufacture in a short time so there is no need to manufacture in a country with lower labor costs. The VSB comes with a lifetime warranty with expected lifetime of 10 to 15 years.
What other inventions and products have you developed?
I introduced the soft cases for EMS to the US in 1981 that are now so common today around the world.
I have invented a lot of different soft cases in Sweden that I brought to the US. When I was displaying my soft cases around the states, many of the EMS personnel were laughing and asked me if I was going fishing. They are not laughing anymore.
I also invented the first disposable fitted and plane bed sheets that we manufactured with our soft cases in Colorado. That was an enormous success but we couldn't keep up with the demand of booth bed sheets and soft cases so I sold the patent right to a manufacturer.
I have more inventions on the way for the hospital and EMS market that I'm working on now.
About Med Tech Sweden
Med Tech Equipment Sweden was established in 1970 in Sweden and Med Tech Sweden Inc. established in 1989 in the US. It is a small family-run company. Bo Renberg is the Founder and President and his wife Tracy is the Vice President.
Every product is made right in their shop from high-quality US-bought materials and undergoes rigorous testing for each product individually before being released.
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