Dear Readers,

In continuing the tradition of using the Newsbulletins to convey the latest events at Suspended Animation, I find myself in the somewhat unusual position of announcing my own arrival, in August, as the company’s new General Manager.

Attending Suspended Animation’s conference in May, I was impressed by the scientific presentations and how SA’s mission seemed to tie in with my own biomedical research interests in ischemia and reperfusion and hypoxia and thermoregulation, and my experience managing biotechnology development. (For a bit more detail, my smiling mug and biosketch are on the Personnel Page.) When the offer came to join the Suspended Animation team, I was pleased to accept. I’m now on the steep upside of the learning curve of cryonics, its multidisciplinary science and its history, but I’m enjoying it. I’m looking forward to helping Suspended Animation improve and expand its standby, stabilization and transport capabilities.

What follows is an update on the latest struggles and successes at Suspended Animation in a familiar format. Some of the information comes first hand from me and some naturally second hand, given my recent arrival, and was compiled by SA’s staff. But I hope to provide more frequent updates as we go along, and invite you to drop me an email or give me a call if there is something in particular that you would like to hear about or just say, “Hello!”

Best regards,

Catherine Baldwin
General Manager

Vehicle Relocates to California

The Dodge Sprinter that Suspended Animation converted for use as a cryonics transport vehicle was relocated in California in August. Since a significant number of our clients live in the West, and since some of our team members reside in the greater Los Angeles area, the vehicle will provide a faster response and better coverage in this region. One complete set of standby, stabilization and transport equipment has already been located in California.

Work on our second, larger vehicle has not progressed as fast as we originally hoped, largely because our resources were concentrated on other projects. Flooring, lighting and the generator have been installed and cabinetry will follow in the coming weeks. This vehicle is capable of basic emergency response now and performed well during the full standby deployment simulation at the end of August (see below). It will remain based at our facility in Florida.

Perfusion Training

On August 7, 2007 two employees and a Suspended Animation consultant received special training from a consulting perfusionist in the Los Angeles area. The perfusionist went through every step in the setup and control of our Air Transportable Perfusion equipment (ATP), and provided detailed advice derived from his own clinical experience. The presentation was recorded on video, and an edited version, with animated graphics, will be used to supplement the hands-on ATP training and practice program for standby team members.

AutoPulse Redesign

During the last case (CI-81), the reconfigured AutoPulse bands became bound by the folds of flesh around the patient’s upper body and were not able to function properly causing the Autopulse to go into alarm mode and cease functioning. To address this problem, Suspended Animation began a complete redesign which allows the AutoPulse to function on any patient that the original unmodified Autopulse can accomodate, regardless of the size and condition of the patient’s torso. While the Thumper is still preferred for active chest compression and decompression, the AutoPulse, in conjunction with the Res-Q-Pod, provides a simple, portable back up cardiopulmonary support device if the Thumper cannot be used. With the new design, the bands were able to move freely under a variety of initial test conditions as well as during the full standby simulation in August.

Patient Monitoring Training

On Wednesday August 22nd SA staff participated in a training session on patient monitoring during cardiopulmonary support. The usefulness and limitations of conventional methods to assess the quality of CPR were reviewed. Other topics included temperature monitoring, pulse oximetry, end tidal CO2 measurements, and blood sample collection.  All participants received hands-on   practice with the temperature loggers, the   I-STAT and a new emergency quantitative end tidal CO2 device.

End Tidal CO2 Monitoring

Suspended Animation has purchased a new emergency end tidal CO2 detector called the Capnocheck. The Capnocheck is similar in size to the older colorimetric ETCO2 detectors but gives continuous quantitative and digital readings for ETCO2 and respiratory rates using infrared technology. ETCO2 readings are given in mmHg and the respiratory rate is given in breaths per minute. Some models come with an alarm that can be set for high and low ETCO2 readings. Like the colorimetric ETCO2 detectors, the Capnocheck can be placed between the endotracheal tube and oxygen source using a disposable airway adapter. The ETCO2 detector can be used to validate proper placement of the endotracheal tube (or Combitube) and to assess the quality of cardiopulmonary support. All SA staff members have received hands-on training and the device passed its first successful test during the recent case simulation.

New Deployment Simulations

Todd Huffman has continued his consultancy with Suspended Animation and has devised a series of increasingly ambitious deployment simulations. Detailed simulations of cases are an essential training tool, since actual cases occur relatively rarely. On August 24, 2007, Todd organized a full emergent standby simulation for an SA client in Florida, about an hour’s drive from the SA facility. Special challenges to the team included a major traffic accident blocking roads getting to the hospice facility, loss of a preset IV line in the client, using the newly redesigned AutoPulse, and setting up the ATP while in transit with the patient. Lessons-learned from this simulation will be reflected in future training, development and deployment.