Air-Mat

How best to rescue an accident victim in an isolated environment in Quebec?

When a person is involved in a wilderness accident in Quebec, they are often stranded in the middle of nowhere. In the province, few locations are accessible by road and helicopter rescue remains rare. Yet the majority of interventions are carried out by land. Firefighters and paramedics are confronted with a challenging context, especially when transporting the victim.

Air-mat. is a lightweight, innovative and agile device. This inflatable stretcher is transported in the deflated position. When the object is deployed, the victim is placed on it and transported safely to the nearest hospital.

"Creating a project that makes sense in Studio Montreal sometimes means having to move up a scale. In this case, it is the whole territory of Quebec that has immersed Malo in the issue in question.

Air-mat brings a new solution to a real need where people’s lives are at stake. Its innovative aspect lies in the adaptation of an existing technology to another field, with a perfectly adapted response to the context. Without being disruptive, Air-mat breaks with the conventions of the sector. The project offers a more agile solution than the existing ones and allows for improved victim care by being easily incorporated into the normal operation of the emergency services.

The project is based on data collected from experts and in the field. Malo rigorously applied an iterative design methodology. By taking into account the singularity of a specific and local project, Malo was able to develop an effective and complete response to the problem. Once the right answer has been found, imagining how to adapt it to other contexts becomes easy."

Julie Le Ster - Teaching Manager Master's Program International Design Strategy, Le Studio Montréal