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Gurneys with built-in scales take guesswork out of emergency medical care

January 22, 2024

U.S. Bank client Hinckley Medical created the scales to weigh patients in ambulances in order to determine accurate medicine dosages

While attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as an engineering student, Tristen Hazlett had a conversation with his brother that would change the trajectory of Hazlett’s life.

Gurneys with the OneWeight system were developed by Hinckley Medical.

“My older brother was at a paramedic school in Minnesota and shared that guessing people’s weight to be able to provide medication made him feel awful,” said Hazlett, who lives in the Twin Cities.

Hazlett recalled his disbelief that a scale did not exist in an ambulance to provide accurate weight information so that paramedics could administer the correct dosage to patients as they were being rushed to the hospital.

“People are just not good at guessing people’s weight,” he said. “When you are helping people in a vulnerable situation, providing accurate doses is paramount.”

That conversation sparked an idea to help solve a problem facing hospital, fire department and third party-affiliated first responders providing emergency medical care around the world.

While attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Hazlett cofounded Hinckley Medical alongside Michael Elsbernd, who serves as the chief operations officer, and Hazlett's younger brother, Colton, who serves as the chief technology officer.

One of Hinckley Medical’s first forays into the industry was sponsoring Hazlett and his group’s senior design project: the first prototype of a scale for a gurney called the patient weighing system or PWS.

“While that original design didn’t go anywhere, we spent three years in development before getting into any sort of field trial,” said Hazlett, who is the CEO of Hinckley Medical.

Six years later, the scale has been renamed OneWeight and is now assembled in Minnesota, where Hinckley Medical is based. Hinckley is part of the hundreds of Minnesota companies in Medical Alley, a group of healthcare organizations innovating and providing care.

OneWeight is now used by emergency medical service providers in six states. In 2023, Hinckley completed its first round of raising capital to support their growing business.

“There’s a real need to solve and innovate in this space,” Hazlett said. “We’re really trying to be that one-stop shop for cognitive offloading – the use of tools to assist with tasks – for emergency responders. It’s why we’ve developed and just launched a companion app to the scale called OneDose, which will take the patient’s weight from the scale, calculate dosages, and provide medical professionals access to tools and checklists.”

As the business has grown, so has the partnership with U.S. Bank.

Hazlett first opened personal accounts with U.S. Bank while in college because he wanted a bank that had branches in Lincoln and back home in Minnesota. When he and his team founded Hinckley Medical, they opened business accounts with U.S. Bank – ranging from checking to credit cards and lines of credit.

Hinckley’s bankers include Ryan Peterson, a client relationship consultant, and Nathan O’Keefe, a small business banker, who are based down the road from Hinckley Medical’s offices in Lakeville, Minnesota.

“Working with Ryan and Nathan has been great,” Hazlett said. “They and the bank provide that small bank feeling with the benefits of a larger bank. You can trust and rely on their stability.”

Peterson and O’Keefe said they look forward to hearing what’s in store for the Hinckley Medical team and supporting them as they continue to grow.

“At U.S. Bank, we want to make sure that all businesses have the tools they need to grow and build their business,” O’Keefe said. “As a banker, being able to help businesses reach their goals by taking advantage of our products and services is central to who we are. I couldn’t be prouder to be able to walk alongside Tristen and the Hinckley Medical team as they help medical professionals provide care.”

A focus on healthcare

In 2023, U.S. Bank announced its new cross-business initiative to provide healthcare practices with a comprehensive suite of solutions for business owners. In doing so, 50 U.S. Bank bankers will serve small- to mid-sized medical, veterinarian and dental practices as well as physician-owned medical and diagnostic laboratories and outpatient care centers.

This new healthcare initiative builds on the bank’s strong and well-recognized history of service to clients in the healthcare sector, including the expertise of the dedicated healthcare team in its Corporate and Commercial Banking group.

U.S. Bank has been in the healthcare business for more than 100 years, delivering solutions to help clients of all types and sizes meet their financial, operational and investment goals – so they can focus on their core mission of serving patients.

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