The Chilean San Jose mining disaster (near the city of Copiapo, north of Santiago) on August 5, 2010 caught the attention of the whole world. When Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera announced that all 33 trapped miners were alive, cheers burst out from the family members of the miners along with the rest of the world. The rescue effort was a major undertaking due to the depth of the mine and the difficulty of the required drillings. The in-flight video I watched during my flight to Seattle recently gave me a deeper understanding of the amount of planning needed and execution that went into the rescue efforts. When the first rescue attempt failed, the time pressure created more stress on everyone involved. As history revealed, the rescue of the trapped miners was a success and it was both comforting and uplifting to the world.

What the major media channels did not report was the role of medical electronics played in the rescue. These miners were kept in isolation (from society) and darkness for 69 days. During the on-going rescue effort, the state of the health of the miners was monitored by electronic devices. One of such devices was the Onyx II, Model 9560 wireless fingertip pulse oximeter made by Nonin. This oximeter clipped on the finger of the individual and the built-in LED and a receiver indirectly detected the oxygen saturation of the blood in the person. This information was transmitted from the Nonin device using Bluetooth technology to another portable device called the Physiological Status Monitoring (PSM) made by Zephyr Technology, which in turn sent the data to a monitoring station situated above ground via a fiber optic cable. Besides the oximeter, each miner wore a chest strap (part of the Zephyr solutions) to measure other vital signs: pulse, heart rate and breathing pattern. Additionally, the miners needed to exercise at least one hour a day to keep their weight down to fit the rescue capsule. The doctors on the ground used the information gathered to monitor the health conditions of the miners on an ongoing basis. As each of these miners was being lifted up, their vital signs were monitored in real time. This was important as they were transported from one very dark environment to a totally different ambient condition with bright sunlight. We have, from this rescue project, witnessed medical electronic device solutions that played a significant part, and it is telehealth¹ demonstrated in a dramatic way.

Telehealth Applications

Let us review the rescue project and compare it with a real-life telehealth application.

First look at the block diagram of the system configuration. Nonin oximeter (block 1) and Zephyr chest belts (block 2) collected vital signs from the miners and sent the data via Bluetooth to the Zephyr PSM portable device (block 3), which in turn transmitted the data via fiber optic cables to the Zephyr monitor station (block 4) at the ground level. It is important to note that the doctors above the mine were monitoring the vital signs of the miners remotely. In a non-crisis application, block 1 and 2 represent a monitoring device such as a weight scale or blood pressure monitor. Block 3 represents a network station equipped with Ethernet or 4G located in the home environment. Block 4 represents a remote monitoring station used by a doctor or a nurse to monitor or diagnose the patient’s condition. All of these happen without the doctor having to be present. While all of this sounds exciting, there are challenges to be overcome before telehealth will be used on a broad scale. They include the concern of security and reliability, quality of services and cost to implement such solutions. These present a lot of technology and revenue opportunities for MEDS developers. MEDS Magazine will continue to provide you with updated medical electronic innovations and applications.

If you know of an interesting application, please contact [email protected]. When the story is used, we will send you a souvenir.

For more information on Zephyr Technology: www.zephyr-technology.com

For more information on Nonin: http://www.nonin.com/PulseOximetry/Fingertip/Onyx9560

Note 1: Remote health care