Next, I put my partner, Ellen, in the bag and had her lay flat. I was able to take the bag from being completely flat on the snow to fully-sealed, with the top, bottom, and two torso drawstrings closed, in under a minute. She had on a little more clothing, including a jacket. She reported feeling warm and as comfortable as could be expected lying in the snow with no insulation. As we all know, an addition of a pad or insulating layer below would have made all the difference in the world, but I was trying to see how well the bag functioned by itself.
 A few weeks before, we had our Aquatic Rescue Team try the new Blizzard Survival Blanket™ during a dive training event. Our ART Sergeant provided the following report:
“On October 19th, 2009, I had the opportunity to evaluate the Performance Systems two person bag. I had just completed a 35 minute Scuba dive in 46 degree water using a 7 mil wet suit. The outside air temperature was 40 degrees and there was a breeze of approximately 5 mph. There was heavy cloud cover. We had just experienced a passing snow squall. Directly upon exiting the water and removing my Scuba gear, I sat down in a chair and had the bag placed over me. The bag easily covered the chair and me from head to toe and I had considerable space in front of my face for breathing. I didn’t feel claustrophobic at all. I immediately noticed the heat being generated inside the bag and experienced a stove pipe effect where the heated air rose up around me and out the open top over my head. I had put my eyeglasses on and they fogged up right away. The warmth was comforting and instantaneous.
After spending about 5 minutes inside the bag, I lowered the top down to my waist. I was still comfortably warm. I removed the bag and tried a standard emergency “space” blanket. This blanket measured 84” X 52”. Sitting down, I wasn’t able to be completely covered and I didn’t notice any heat being generated.
This bag would be an incredibly useful item for our dive team. Its application could be for both rescuer and victim.
Another ART diver provided the following summary:
“My body was cold and my hands were really cold before I went into the bag. Almost the instant I went into the bag I started to warm up. One big thing was it blocked the cold wind. I could feel the bag getting warmer as a stayed inside it. I hate the cold and this bag was one of the first things that I have used to actually warm me up. Thank you for letting me try it out.”
 or those of us who have grown up using the standard wilderness hypothermia or “burrito” wrap, with sleeping bags, mat, and plastic – this product is a TREMENDOUS improvement. The Blizzard Heat™ system represents a tremendous technological improvement in field treatment and patient packaging. The units are sold in vacuum packaged plastic. The Blizzard Heat™ Casualty Blanket measures 3 x 9 x 12 inches (about the size of a large text book) and weighs 4 pounds (including the 4 heat pads). This is quite a bit smaller and lighter than our team’s current patient packaging kit. The Blizzard Survival Blanket™ is packaged at approximately 8 x 4 x 2 inches and weighs a whopping 19 ounces.
The patented Reflexcell™ material appears to limit heat lost through convection, evaporation, and radiation. With a pad or other material, it would limit loss through conduction as well. It is also very durable and capable of withstanding a fairly difficult evacuation, and I would expect, readily repairable with almost any type of tape. The blanket/bags are considered reusable, but as would be expected, would have to be recompressed or vacuum packed to get close to the original packaging sizes. The literature Performance Systems provided indicates that the blankets are made of a triple layer of metalized polymer foil, providing a water and windproof ensemble. The bag is in widespread use with the British RAF Mountain Rescue Service and the US Special Operations Forces medical community. The products have been evaluated by independent laboratories and rated to be equivalent in thermal protection to a 2-3 season sleeping bag.
From my conversations with the PerSys Medical representative, the bags are going to be priced in the retail market in the $30 – $40 range. The Blizzard HeatTM Casualty Blanket will be priced a little higher. Additional information can be found on their web site at www.ps-med.com. Information requests can be directed to info@ps-med.com. I’ve played with a lot of different patient packaging materials, but for the price, cube, and weight, this is one of the best inventions to hit the wilderness and tactical EMS world in quite some time. |
