The Patient Isolation Transportation Unit (PITU) [Image courtesy of AR Tech, a division of A&R Tarpaulins]
AR Tech, a division of A&R Tarpaulins, announced today that the FDA has granted an EUA for its Patient Isolation Transportation Unit (PITU) to help hospitals better manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
“PITU is a game-changer in this fight against the pandemic because it is a negative pressure isolation enclosure that makes working with highly contagious diseases a safer process,” said Carmen Weisbart, a registered nurse who is president of A&R Tarpaulins.
“PITU also allows properly attired family members to see patients who are infected with COVID-19,” Weisbart said in a news release.
Dr. Mark Comunale, head of anesthesiology at Arrowhead Medical Center (Colton, Calif.), developed the unit in 2015 with the Ebola outbreak in mind. AR Tech (Fontana, Calif.) joined his efforts two years ago.
The PITU surrounds a person with a negative pressure enclosure so that people who are properly attired can visit and interact with them while staying safe from an airborne virus such as the virus that causes COVID-19.
“Hearing that patients are dying alone and suffering from loneliness because of isolation is tragic,” said Bud Weisbart, A&R Tarpaulins VP .“We want PITU to bring families together in hard times like these as well as protect our frontline medical workers.”