Award

Exertional heat injury (EHI), a systemic illness due to overexertion in high temperature environments, is a constant threat to military service members. Recent increases in the number and intensity of environmental heat waves places airmen at an ever increasing risk for EHI and can be deadly if not recognized and treated rapidly.  In 2021 alone, the DoD reported 488 cases of heat stroke– the most severe version of EHI– and 1,864 cases of heat exhaustion. Air Force trainees in particular are at high risk of EHI as Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio Texas, home to Air Force Basic Military Training (BMT), and Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) Training is consistently listed in the Top 7 military bases reporting EHI each year with 105 days of Black Flag heat conditions expected each year by 2050.  Core Body Temperature (CBT) is often the first vital sign to register as problematic in EHI with the gold standard means to measure it being by rectal thermometer. At present, however, CBT is rarely measured in military trainees– until it's too late. While timely intervention can prevent milder cases of heat exhaustion from becoming a life threatening heat stroke, current methods focus on cooling options, not proactively identifying the rise in core temperature before problems occur.   In response, BlinkThermal has created XTEMP, an infrared-based technology that monitors CBT from the back of the eye. This advancement stands to revolutionize trainee health by empowering healthcare professionals to provide better informed, data-driven clinical care. With XTEMP field medics can accurately measure CBT rapidly, without contact, using devices medics already carry–such as a tactical phone. The proximity of the back of the eye to the hypothalamus gives XTEMP an advantage in detecting and responding to the brain's thermal regulator's reaction to heat exertion instantly, a capability not achievable with a rectal thermometer probe. This technology will be life saving in EHI by identifying the earliest rise in CBT before heat exhaustion symptoms set in (dizziness, confusion, fainting, weakness, vision changes) allowing for immediate, proactive intervention to cool the body– protecting the Air Force’s most important asset, it’s people.