N.S. medical invention to appear in latest episode of TV drama ‘The Pitt’

A made-in-the-Maritimes device will be featured in the show The Pitt.

A Nova-Scotia born medical device is about to make a Hollywood debut.

Dr. Kevin Spencer, a Dartmouth General Hospital medical doctor, is also the CEO and co-founder of “Ring Rescue,” a medical device created in 2018 that offers a less invasive way of removing stuck rings.

“Fifty-five per cent of the adult population wears rings, which is not surprising if you look around the room. What I did find surprising is 70 per cent, over two thirds of ring wearers, have experienced some level of ring entrapment or stuck ring in the past. A lot of those might be solved at home with some soap and water…(but) a quarter of those did end up requiring health-care interventions,” says Spencer.

“It’s actually a very common problem. And the common nature of that is driven by the fact there’s just a lot of people that wear rings, and fingers can swell for all kinds of different reasons.”

The device is now in every emergency department in Nova Scotia and P.E.I.

It’s also being used in more than 2,000 hospitals across North America, including at the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic.

But perhaps its most anticipated appearance will come on Thursday night, when the device will be featured in the latest episode of “The Pitt,” a popular medical drama on Crave.

“To be able to have our product on there is really, really cool. It’s something I’m very proud of. I think our whole team is really excited about it. I think it’s a great local win as well to take a local intervention and get into what’s arguably the top show on television right now,” says Spencer.

“And it’s really the combined effort, the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub, IWK clinicians locally and colleagues abroad that have all really worked with us to help get this to market and get this to the front line.”

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