February 24, 2019 — It’s a breakthrough in wound care technology in the Ohio Valley. With the use of fish skin, one company is making a difference in the medical industry and the success of the treatment is traveling from Iceland all the way to East Liverpool, Ohio.
“We felt in order to tell that story we had to capture the essence of Iceland,” said EM-Media President Jim Emmerling. “The purity of the waters, the purity of the production facility and tell the story of where this all came about.”
East Liverpool Health System, an affiliate of Prime healthcare, is partnering up with EM-Media.
In the coming week, they are embarking on quite the journey in order to bring a new type of treatment to the area.
The company known as Kerecis, based in Iceland, was the pioneer to the first-of-its kind wound care technology. Using the skin of North Atlantic cod as the healing agent.
“The cells of living tissue, basically what it does is the fish skin acts as a scaffolding process and recruits the cells and basically it morphs and grows together,” said Rick Perez, the Director of Business and Marketing at East Liverpool Health System.
“Based on all the biologics on the market it is 40-50% more efficacious,” said Perez.
This type of treatment has been found to be widely successful because there is limited risk for infection.
“It’s captured where it’s very cold and bacteria doesn’t have the opportunity to grow,” Perez said.
East Liverpool Health System is already using the technology on a limited basis, and by the end of March they will launch the technology in its full compacity. For the next two years it won’t be found anywhere else in the local area.
“We do have an exclusive agreement of a 48 and half mile radius around our hospital, so if you are in the Pittsburgh area, basically in order to use this technology, you would need to come to East Liverpool Health System,” said Perez.
It’s a big step in the right direction, they say, when it comes to treatment in the Ohio Valley.
“This will be the biggest story that we’ve ever told,” Emmerling said.
“We’re pioneering something that hasn’t been done within the health care industry,” said Perez.
Both Perez and Emmerling will be making the trip to Iceland, where they will fish for the North Atlantic cod, observe how it is sterilized, and capture video along the way.