“Three area Rotaries teamed up to help bring cutting-edge medical technology to every area of Greene County”, reported by Melanie Lekocevic in The UpStater.com (read full article HERE).
Melanie writes: “When patients are given IV (intravenous) fluids, the liquid is significantly cooler than body temperature, so warming it up would be beneficial, Steve Near, chief of operations for Greene County Paramedics, said. “You don’t want to administer cold fluids because it will make you colder and it doesn’t help anything that your body is trying to do,” Near said. “Your body has a lot of clotting factors that warm fluids will help fight against. This will keep the fluid up to about 100 degrees, close to your body’s temperature, and help everything go smoothly.”
The warming units take about 10 seconds to heat up the IV fluid, Near said. “It is essentially instantaneous,” he added. “It can be used for any IV fluid — it can go from near frozen and it will warm it up to 100 degrees.”
The IV warmers will be particularly valuable in skiing accidents, hypothermia and major traumas, especially in colder weather, but can be beneficial for just about any situation, he said.
(Image credit: The UpStater)
