{"id":407,"date":"2012-10-07T16:21:27","date_gmt":"2012-10-07T16:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.abetteremergency.com\/blog\/?p=407"},"modified":"2012-10-07T16:21:27","modified_gmt":"2012-10-07T16:21:27","slug":"innovative-new-n-95-mask-raises-the-bar-in-providing-respiratory-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/innovative-new-n-95-mask-raises-the-bar-in-providing-respiratory-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovative New Mask Raises the Bar in Providing Respiratory Protection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having been involved in emergency services for over 35 years, including time as a provider, supervisor, training officer and administrator I understand the hazards in the work environment quite well.\u00a0 As a Department of Defense validated subject matter expert in Emergency Medical Services in CBRNE response, I understand the value of selecting the proper level of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in order to operate in a contaminated environment.\u00a0 As co-author of the college text book Biosecurity and Bioterrorism<\/em><\/a> I understand the subtle yet potentially\u00a0catastrophic\u00a0threat biologic agents present.\u00a0 I have been involved in developing and teaching federal\u00a0curriculum’s\u00a0for emergency responders and Incident Commanders, including the selection and proper use of PPE for much of the last 10 years.<\/p>\n

Respiratory protection has remained more or less stagnant for the majority of my career, with options consisting of surgical masks, N-95 masks, Air-Purifying Respirators (often called gas masks or APRs), Powered Air-Purifying Masks (APRS), and Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA).\u00a0 For this article I would like to focus on those situations where an N-95 is deemed the appropriate level of respiratory protection. According to the FDA, an N95 respirator is a respiratory protective device designed to achieve a very close facial fit and very efficient filtration of airborne particles. Keep in mind when a respirator may come with a 95, 99 or 100 rating indicating they filter out 95%, 99% and 99.7% of the airborne particles present.<\/p>\n

Until the development and now release of the new Readi Mask \u00ae<\/a>, surgical and N-95-type masks were dependent upon straps to hold the mask in place.\u00a0 The new Readi Mask \u00ae for one time use is strapless and uses acrylic medical grade adhesive which seals the mask to the wearer\u2019s face. \u00a0Once you try the mask as I did you will have no doubt the seal is much more secure and comfortable in a work environment than models dependent upon straps.\u00a0 I wore the half-mask model for over an hour with no loss of seal, comfort or ability to communicate normally.\u00a0 I even wore the full face piece model in the shower to test the seal and there was no fogging of the face shield or leakage. As it is a new concept and most responders use equipment they trust, the new Readi Mask \u00ae will require utilization in training to build confidence that the protection is as good if not better than what they achieved using other models.<\/p>\n

OSHA requires that the employee be informed of the choices, including sets of different face masks and different sizes, and to be made aware that he or she is choosing a face mask for the best fit. \u00a0If your hazard assessment indicates respiratory protection requires an N-95 type level of protection, why not select the one best suited to actually protect your respiratory track? Employees may certainly elect to stay with what they are familiar with, but I would anticipate once they try out the new Readi Mask \u00ae, they will see the application, Examples include:<\/p>\n

Potential exposure to riot control agents<\/p>\n

Working in a situation with particulate matter in the air (sand, post-fire (forest or structure), mowing, dusts and molds)<\/p>\n

Potential exposure to post-blast dust, radiation and unknown particulate contamination<\/p>\n

Any situation where you are close to large numbers of people during flu season or outbreak<\/p>\n

Patient who meets my D.O.C.T.O.R.<\/a> assessment triggers for PPE\/Mask use<\/p>\n

Dealing with an ill animal or conducting a necropsy<\/p>\n

Need to escape from a smoke-filled environment<\/p>\n

Patients or family members with immune compromise conditions<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mask Characteristics<\/p>\n

Hypoallergenic medical adhesive lining inside perimeter creates complete seal.<\/p>\n

Pocket sized and virtually weightless ( you can always have one close)<\/p>\n

Comes with or without integrated eye shield<\/p>\n

Adult and child sizes<\/p>\n

Made in the U.S.A<\/p>\n

Can be manufactured in different colors with 5,000 minimum order<\/p>\n

As a disclaimer note I am able to act as an agent to sell the Readi Mask, but this is the first product I have ever endorsed and feel it really has the potential to keep responders safer when this level of protection is warranted by the hazard. \u00a0The growing list of agencies purchasing the mask and expressing interest means this product should be on your radar if you are concerned about respiratory protection for yourself, employees or family members from multiple threats.<\/p>\n

Feel free to email me at abetteremergency@gmail.com<\/a> to discuss your needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having been involved in emergency services for over 35 years, including time as a provider, supervisor, training officer and administrator I understand the hazards in the work environment quite well.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[7,11,26,28,29,32,33,36,38,39,40,41,43,44,49,56,57,60,65,75,76,78,79,80,83,84,85,97,110],"class_list":["post-407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized","tag-7","tag-best-practices","tag-disaster","tag-disaster-response","tag-disasters","tag-dust-masks","tag-earthquake","tag-emergency-management","tag-ems","tag-evacuation","tag-fire-fighting","tag-flu","tag-h1n1","tag-h9n2","tag-hospitals","tag-incident-response","tag-influenza","tag-japan-reactor-disaster","tag-mold","tag-pandemic","tag-personal-protective-equipment","tag-police","tag-ppe","tag-pre-hospital-care","tag-public-health","tag-public-safety","tag-radiation","tag-terrorism","tag-wildfires"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}