Romeoville Company Says Device Can Protect Health Care Workers Transporting Patients
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (CBS) -- A Chicago area company has joined the effort to stop the spread of Ebola. It has created a device that the company says would protect health care workers as they take patients to hospitals.
CBS 2's Jim Williams went to Romeoville to take a look in this Original Report.
They call it a PIU -- Patient Isolation Unit. It looks like a transparent sleeping bag, but it is far more sophisticated.
It's the creation of Isovac, a Chicago area company whose CEO Pete Jenkner explains the nearly seven footchamber would protect health care workers without those white suits as they take Ebola patients to hospitals.
"Isolation, quarantine and containment -- that's what you have with this unit," Jenkner said.
It only weighs 30 pounds with attached gloves IV pouches and an oxygen unit to treat patients on the move.
The PIU is winning support from Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger.
"I think in a very large scale rollout of this in western Africa would be beneficial to the people there and beneficial to our militar'sy goal of helping to stop this terrible virus from growing," Kinzinger said.
Pete Jenkner says Isovac could produce many PIUs quickly for use around the world.
"I'd like to see thousands. I think there should be one in every ambulance and I think there should be a number of these at every international airport," Jenkner said.
Last week, Pete Jenkner showed the isolation unit to members of Congress, Homeland Security and the CDC. He's awaiting to see whether it can go into mass production.
The company first created the isolation chamber at the start of the Iraq war more than 10 years ago to guard against chemical attacks.