Tongue Sucker Receives World’s Biggest Design Award To counter problems associated with mass casualty incidents, a team of design students developed the Tongue Sucker, a simple yet ingenious life saving device, which has now earned them an INDEX: award and €100 000.

The London terrorist bombings in July 2005 were an eye opener for four industrial design engineers from the Imperial College and the Royal College of Art in the UK. From emergency services, Graeme Davies, Phillip Greer, Christopher Huntley and Lisa Stroux learned that any delay in the arrival of paramedics was critical. An unconscious persons tongue will fall to the back of the throat, blocking the airway, and without an adequate airway, an unconscious person will die or suffer severe brain damage within 4 minutes.

A Straight Forward Name
The Tongue Sucker is basically a small plastic chamber with a bright colored bulb-like air reservoir, which allows untrained bystanders at the scene of an accident to open the airway of an unconscious person immediately and effectively. Squeeze the bulb, place it over the tongue of the injured person and release. Suction draws the tongue off the back of the throat, creating a small but vital gap to allow the unconscious person to breathe. Once in place, the first aider is free to perform CPR, call for help or assist other casualties. In addition, the brightly colored bulb signals to arriving paramedics which casualties have been treated.

Award Winning Simplicity
When presenting the award to the four industrial design engineers at the INDEX: AWARD ceremony, INDEX: jury member Ravi Naidoo, founder and managing director the Cape Town based marketing company Interactive Africa, called the design simple, yet iconic: "The straight forward name, the very professonal, understandable and communicative packaging design which integrates the instructions in a graphic form, the choice of colour and the low tech approach of Tongue Sucker all add up to a unique Design to Improve Life"

First Aid Necessity
Tongue Sucker is a one size fits all, non-invasive device which requires no training to apply, and therefore it can be used by bystanders, paramedics and professional rescue teams all over the world. The need for such a user-friendly life-saving device in any first-aid box is obvious. Oropharyngeal airways, currently used specialist tools providing the same service, may only be handled by trained personal, and typical paramedic arrival time is 12 minutes. With more than a quarter of a million UK citizens rendered unconscious each year, the Tongue Sucker has the potential to dramatically reduce the number of crucial minutes without oxygen.

Tested with Positive Results
According to Phillip Greer from the Tongue Sucker design team, the recognition and the € 100 000 prize money that follows their INDEX: award brings Tongue Sucker one step closer to the first aid box: "We are all absolutely delighted that the potential for the Tongue Sucker has beenrecognized by such a prestigious and internationally known award as INDEX:. The international awareness that hopefully will follow, will present us the opportunity to make the Tongue Sucker a reality, push through with the clinical trialling and ultimately save lives. Winning the INDEX: award will afford us the chance to go on to develop and realize the Tongue Sucker concept and conceivably get it into every first aid box"

Source: Index Awards