Derrick Lin

Global

Designer: Emanuel Keinan
Graphic Design: Liat Dassau
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: Persys Medical
Location: Israel
Packaging Content: First aid kit
Packaging Material: Flexible plastic

The Problem:
Over 35% of pre-hospital deaths and at least half of traumatic deaths within 24 hours of hospitalization are due to blood loss. Most of these cases are potentially preventable. Advanced emergency services could support casualties in these situations and save many lives, but, unfortunately, a professional caregiver might not get to a casualty on time. For instance, a person after a car crash, trapped and heavily bleeding, would need aid in the first few critical minutes; without proper immediate care, this person could die before an ambulance arrives.

The Solution:
The 4BC Kit is a unique outfit. It includes four essential items for the treatment and stopping of bleeding: a tourniquet, a hemostatic gauze, an Emergency Bandage®, and gloves. These items have proven to be very effective in controlling and stopping heavy bleeding and have been used by soldiers on the battlefield and by EMS personnel. Now, the 4BC Kit offers lifesaving equipment to anyone, not just EMS personnel.

The 4BC Kit is ideal for law enforcement personnel for self-aid or buddy aid or for situations in which the police are the first responders, like in most accidents or violent events. In such cases, the police can control a victim’s bleeding until the EMS services get there without wasting valuable time. Paramedics may and most likely arrive promptly to a scene, but lives can be saved in those critical minutes leading up to their arrival. During that crucial period, a police officer in the hot-zone with the aid of the 4BC Kit could be doing the work of the paramedic yet to arrive at the scene. The 4CB Kit, with its compact size and easy to follow instructions, is the optimal solution for every law enforcement officer faced with an emergency medical situation involving blood loss.

Our Goal:

The aim of The 4BC Kit is to extend the use and availability of these lifesaving products to a larger target market, to lay users as well as professionals. Eventually helping them save lives at the time of need. By creating a packaging based solution that is much more friendly and practical to the user, we can help everyone save lives.

What’s Unique?
Usually bandages, tourniquets, gauze and gloves are packed and sold in fabric pouches or First Aid boxes. These fabric bags cost approximately $5 USD to manufacture. (If the kits are bought by some arm of the U.S. government, the pouches are required to be made in the US; therefore, if the factory assembles the kits outside the US, this can make everything more expensive and challenging for the supplier).

The 4BC Kit packaging is innovative. By using flexible plastic technology, the packaging costs are significantly lower at only $0.30 cents per kit and its advantages over the commonly used fabric pouches are as follows:
• The 4BC Kit is heat-sealed, therefore its waterproof, providing the contents with maximum security.
• The 4BC Kit is vacuum-sealed, therefore its small and slim so it can fit into a pocket of a pair of cargo pants.
• The 4BC Kit has 3 separate packets, and each packet has notches for easy opening.
• The 4BC Kit has printed drawings and instructions for use on the exterior of the packaging which helps the unprofessional user choose the right item, for the right juncture.
• The 4BC Kit is transparent on one side, so the user can see the contents of each packet and read the treatment directions at the same time.
• The 4BC Kit includes a perforation that allows it to be split into 2 smaller bags instead of one, thus allowing one to carry it, even without large pockets.
• The 4BC Kit includes re-saleable zippers, so that the tourniquet can be used for practicing or training and can then be placed back into the bag.
• The 4BC Kit is reflective orange, which makes it easy to locate.

Utilizing Technology:
With new technologies in flexible packaging, we were able to integrate many features in one bag. The front and back are made of two different materials that have been welded together (rather than the traditional method of using one folded material for the front and back); the front is covered with reflective aluminum, and the back is made of transparent foil. Both materials are compatible for gamma sterilization, so the medical products inside the bag can be sterilized. The kit has three separate packets each packet has notches for fast and easy opening, and there is a re-sealable zipper. In addition to all of these features, there is a small hole in the upper ;part of the pack for shelf display or storage, as well as perforation for splitting the kit into two smaller parts for easy transport.