East Liverpool Hospital Team Visits Iceland to Learn About Fish Skins

EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio – Representatives of East Liverpool City Hospital are traveling to Iceland to collect footage of a biotechnology company there using fish skin to repair injured tissue.

The research at Kerecis – named the island nation’s fastest-growing startup in 2017 – focuses on how naturally occurring Omega3 polyunsaturated fatty acids can be grafted onto damaged tissue, such as those arising from burns or diabetes. When grafted onto human tissue, the fish skin uses the body’s own cells to integrate the new tissue, reducing the recovery time for closing open wounds. Omega3 cells are also naturally anti-inflammatory and a pain reliever, further easing the recovery process.

“Our wound care team believes in treating each patient like family and as such, we are driven to provide the most innovative wound care advancements to our patients,” said East Liverpool City Hospital’s Amy Cunningham, director of wound care, in a release. “We want our community to have access to cutting edge wound care treatment protocols that are offered in larger health systems.”

The process of grafting fish skin has already been used in the United States, where it was used to help heal bears that had their paws burned during last year’s wildfires in California.

Traveling to Iceland will be director of business development Rick Perez, as well as part of the staff of EM-Media, which handles the hospital’s marketing efforts. That team includes owner Jim Emmerling, video producer Andy Peacock and production manager Gabe Ofca.

“We are embarking upon a technology we feel will definitely benefit the community we serve as we continue to provide award winning healthcare to our community and region,” Perez said. “In order to capture the true essence of this innovative process, we felt we had to experience it in person and capture the creative footage from Iceland and bring it back to East Liverpool.”

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.