'One Spark' resurfaces with some local good news

It may have been awhile since we’ve heard from the crowdfunding corporation “One Spark”, yet the agency has posted a company that has successfully benefited from the 2016 campaign.  A new, innovative device designed to enhance the training of nurses, paramedics, and other clinical specialists has begun a two-week series of field tests at the University of Florida’s Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research (CSESaR) and the University of North Florida in the Health Sciences and Nursing division.

Elizabeth Benson, RN, co-founder and CEO of B & G Educational Innovations (BGEI) delivered a Beta proto-type of the company’s wearable sleeve to help students learn and practice starting an intravenous injection (IV).

BGEI designs low cost, reusable, wearable simulation devices for training clinical students in hands-on skills and provider/patient interaction.  The wearable sleeves, legs, gloves, etc. include sensors, as applicable, to record and store student performance when drawing blood or starting an IV.  The devices include microphones to record the student provider/patient communication and identification codes to track the progress of each user.

Following their earlier success as one of the winners at One Spark’s “Spark Tank” innovation competition in April, the team at BGEI has since relocated their business, their ReaLifeSim subsidiary and half their management team from Maryland to Jacksonville, Florida.

Citing the “favorable business climate, significant healthcare workforce, educational institutions and supportive entrepreneurial network,” Elizabeth Benson, co-founder and CEO, explained why “it made perfect sense to make Jacksonville the home for our business.”

Co-founder Linda Goodman reported, “BGEI gained significant national recognition recently when Nurses.com featured our business in an article citing the potential impact our training tools will have on clinical simulation education.”  For further information see their Website.

About One Spark: One Spark is a non-profit committed to fostering environments of creativity and innovation through crowdfunding.  The company does this by connecting artists, entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world with the human and capital resources they need to move their ideas forward.  The One Spark festival is one of the most efficient ways for individuals, teams and large companies to receive market validation.  The event is the world's largest crowdfunding festival that brings together hundreds of thousands of people to support ideas and projects that inspire them via rewards-based crowdfunding. One Spark Jacksonville 2016 took place April 7 - 9, 2016 in Downtown JAX, FL.  The event was not covered by this columnist, because One Spark seemed to be going through a change in leadership.