By FireRescue1 Staff
NORTHFIELD, Ill. — Fentanyl-resistant gloves have been created to help keep first responders safe.
WISN reported that medical supply company Medline Industries developed the gloves for responders to wear when treating overdose patients.
“Many times, EMS providers go into very unsecured scenes. They don’t know what they’re getting into,” Medline Industries employee Rhonda Baliff said.
Baliff said the new gloves are thicker, but still thin enough to allow first responders to do their job.
“We don’t want to make it so thick,” she said. “We have to make sure it’s different grades through the palm and fingers, so that they can still do their job. They need to feel for veins. They have to start an IV.”
According to some scientists, the risk of transdermal exposure is very low.
“It is not zero risk and certainly not impossible, but extremely low,” Dr. David K. Tan, an associate professor and chief of EMS in the division of emergency medicine at Washington University School of Medicine said.