Companies Win Awards
There’s glamour enough for everybody these days--even designers of medical devices.
Five Southern California companies were winners in the first nationwide contest earlier this month to award designs that enhance health care and save costs.
Morphix Design in Newport Beach and Hartwell Medical Corp. in Carlsbad were co-winners for a device used to safely transplant patients in an emergency from the scene of trauma to the hospital. The bold, blue-green “CombiCarrier” combines the functions of two devices commonly used: the first to lift the patient at the accident, the second to transport the individual to the hospital.
The device, which loosely resembles a surfboard, enables the patient to avoid being moved a second time, says Amy Allen, a spokeswoman for Canon Communications, a Santa Monica trade publisher of national magazines for the biomedical industry.
Advanced Bionics of Sylmar and Stuart Karten Design in Marina del Rey also won for a speech processor for deaf patients. The item looks like a pager, hangs on the belt and is user-friendly, with soft-touch knobs and a metallic blue exterior. It attaches to a separate device, implanted in the ear, that’s used to help the patient pick up sounds.
La Jolla manufacturer Advanced Tissue Sciences and a Palo Alto design firm, IDEO Product Development, won together for a bioengineered human skin tissue that’s used for treating burns.
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Barbara Marsh covers health care for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7762 and at barbara.marsh@latimes.com.
