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Spanton Dynamics demonstrates spine board
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD – A Fairfield-based medical technology company hosted a demonstration of its marquee product earlier this month.
Representatives of Spanton Dynamics showed a group of a few dozen residents a live-action scenario involving its product called the Spanton Board, a power-driven spine board that operates like a conveyor belt. After meeting with company representatives inside the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center, residents were alarmed to see a bearded man in a red and white suit lying on the ground. Yes, it was indeed Kris Kringle, who had fallen after slipping on a banana peel.
An ambulance arrived on the scene, lights flashing and sirens blaring. The first-responders checked Santa’s vitals, then laid the Spanton Board on the ground next to him. The board’s conveyor belt gradually moved Santa on top of the board, and then the EMTs and paramedics lifted Santa onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. Luckily, Jolly Ol’ Saint Nicholas made a full recovery and is back at the North Pole.
Jefferson County Ambulance Director Joshua Hemminger said he and his team were glad to participate in the demonstration of the Spanton Board.
“I would love to have this device in the field,” Hemminger told The Union. “The board is super intuitive. Align it with the patient, move the board, and watch for clothing and pinch points.”
Hemminger said he believes the Spanton Board is an improvement over existing technology in handling spinal cord injuries, since it “practically eliminates any movement of the patient while providing thorough spinal motion restriction.”
“The current method is to ‘log-roll’ the patient and place the board under them, then roll them onto the board,” Hemminger said. “This device is so much better.”
Anna Spanton is the president of Spanton Dynamics, which she founded in 2021, hoping to bring her late father’s innovative designs for a sports injury board to market. Spanton said the Spanton Board featured in the demonstration outside the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center on Dec. 10 was the company’s professional sports model, which is the model its marketing first. Company officials met with members of the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society (PFATS) of the NFL about a year and a half ago to show them the commercial-ready Spanton Board. Spanton said the support from the trainers was “phenomenal.”
Spanton said the business is now only 5 percent away from “full commercialization” to where it can sell the unit to NFL teams, and then expand into other areas. She said the model marketed to the NFL is called the “Elite Board” and can pull up to 600 pounds. She foresees the military being interested in this model, too. The next phase will be designing a lighter board that could be sold to hospitals and ambulance companies. That will require building a manufacturing plant, warehouse and training facility, which Spanton hopes to do in Fairfield.
“The reason we did our demonstration was to share with our community how far we've come and where we are in the development, but also to open it up to local investment to build those final units and get them onto the field so that we can capture some pre-sales and start building orders,” Spanton said.
Anna is not the only member of the Spanton family involved in the business, either. Her brother John Spanton is vice president of sales, and her son James Spanton Hopton is an EMT who participated in the demonstration that night. He will be working for Jefferson County Ambulance, and has participated in other demonstrations of the Spanton Board across the country.
Curt Nelson, a financial advisor, runs a nonprofit that helps businesses like Spanton Dynamics get off the ground. He said no other company is doing anything like what Spanton Dynamics is undertaking, and he foresees that the company’s products will be valuable to both professional sports teams and the general public.
“If you’ve got a $60-million-a-year athlete, you’ll do anything to not risk injuring them more,” he said.
Nelson said that, based on his work with Spanton, he believes the company is in good hands.
“Anna is a never-say-so, never-say-quit entrepreneur, and she keeps going like an Energizer Bunny,” he said.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
