Xtract™SR Afloat: a versatile solution for extreme environments

Whether you need to cross a jungle river in Costa Rica, evacuate a flooded house in Bangladesh, traverse a river in Wales, or negotiate melted ice in Arctic Canada, water obstacles can pose a significant risk to the safety of both casualties and their rescuers. 

The Xtract™SR Afloat from TSG gives rescue teams a small and lightweight solution to a range of challenging water evacuation scenarios. The Xtract™SR Afloat is a compact casualty flotation device designed for rescuers who need to cross a water obstacle in challenging conditions. It can also be used as an insulating mattress to help combat hypothermia and improve patient comfort and outcomes. As with all Xtract™SR System products, the Xtract™SR Afloat aims to minimise movement of both the casualty and treatment systems.

The Xtract™SR Afloat in action with World Extreme Medicine

The Xtract™SR Afloat is used and relied upon by medical organisations and first responders worldwide, and it’s great to receive feedback about how the products are used in the field. One of our contacts, World Extreme Medicine, have recently been using the system in training exercises on the Pacuare River deep in the Costa Rican jungle. World Extreme Medicine is a specialist medical training provider committed to world leading healthcare instruction for global medical professionals, humanitarian workers, and independent medics – for use in mountains, jungles, oceans, and deserts.

Faced with a lot of heavy rainfall in Costa Rica this season, the river was running too fast to set up a temporary crossing, so the World Extreme Medicine team was limited to deploying Xtract™SR Afloat devices as a casualty flotation aid. Some of the trainees were dubious at first that the Afloat would support a casualty in the water with the inflation chambers provided – which are relatively small compared to the size of the device. Once in the water, however, they were soon impressed and their views quickly changed.

World Extreme Medicine also allowed some of the students to try to attach the Xtract™SR Afloat  with no instruction, to demonstrate how intuitive the product was. Beyond an initial tendency to want to attach the toggle to the webbing strap rather than the edge of the Xtract™SR Afloat, there were no significant problems that could delay implementation under live conditions. Equipped with the Afloat, the student trainee teams were able to complete their simulated evacuations quickly and effectively, which mirrors the results from live evacuations carried out by customers in other parts of the world.

Find out more

Thanks go out to Sue and the team at World Extreme Medicine for her feedback about using our Xtract™SR Afloat – which form the basis of this article. If you’d like to find out more about the Xtract™SR Afloat and its benefits for casualty movement in challenging conditions, please contact us.