Ferno-Washington Model 362 "CPR PortaMattress"

Nicholas Studer

PCS Elected Director 2022-2025
I ended up with four of these items from a Texas colleague, along with other F-W odds/ends. Cleaned them up and thought it'd be useful to share - hadn't seen one before.

It was quickly apparent these were designed to mount to a F-W ambulance cot instead of the usual mattress. Kurt's scan of the product listing for 1974 (http://www.professionalcarsociety.org/forums/showthread.php?t=20273) shows it was available at least as early as then. You get a $2 discount if you buy it with a new cot! The "Star of Life" on the label places these likely to the late 1970s at least - the "SOL" was first adopted by NHTSA in 1972 but not common until later. (https://www.ems.gov/vgn-ext-templating/ems/sol/pages/DOT-NHTSAAuthority.htm)

There are two long Velcro straps that would enter a loop and wrap back onto itself - apparently designed to hold the mattress in place on the cot. Head and foot ends have a Velcro strap as well.

The head end has a removable soft pad, and a hard plastic(?) stiffener is present underneath. My best guess is that the intent being to remove the pad and thus have the patient directly against the hard surface for chest compressions. There are also carry handles on the bottom (green) side of the mattress, apparently to use the mattress as a semi-rigid litter.

Overall - not a bad idea. No mentions of this in any contemporary F-W literature, and a thorough Google search draws a blank.
 

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